I feel like there are probably some ad based search engines which are privacy and service oriented, but in general even for those there remains a misalignment problem. Hence if I don’t want to be a product now or in the future, what good search engines are there that I can pay for?
Like others have said, it’s not “old internet” per se, but they are big proponents of the “small web”; that is, independently-run, focused sites with good content and a purpose other than ad clicks. In that sense, it reflects what made the old internet good.