Self promotion is a form of advertising, doubly so if it’s done for the purpose of attracting revenue via some means. People can opt into it if they want via subscribing/following but it’s still advertising.

So yes most “authentic” content is just people advertising themselves. I would prefer not to see that unless I have opted into it.

That’s still an ad, you want money for a product you’re offering. The only difference is in your case there’s an extra step between impression and conversion.

I’d prefer for my social media to not be full of ads for “content”.