What a load of bollocks.

Nobody owes you anything, especially if it’s a free service. And A/B testing is pretty much the only way to get reliable results on how a feature may shape user experience.

Or would you rather companies just delivered features without any care how it affects users?

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to consider A/B testing under the same umbrella as subjecting somebody to a scientific study. A/B testing can be selling different products in different stores or trying different pricing strategies. There are certainly shady things you can do with A/B testing, like trying out dark patterns, but require consumers give consent for any kind of market experimentation?