> a free software license alone does not empower users to be truly free if they lack the expertise to exercise those freedoms

This is a bullshit argument, and I'm surprised that people aware enough of these issues would try to push it.

Closed (or online-only) software prevents not only the end user from modifying it, but also 'unlicensed' hackers that the end user can ask for help.

See the "right to repair" movement as a very close example. The possibility of an 'ecosystem' of middlemen like these, matters !