Well, there's Free as in Speech, and Free as in Beer. (And there are sub-categories, like "Royalty Free" and the ability to use it without being sued for patent infringement)
Having worked in the food industry, I can tell you that "ugly food" was never wasted. It gets used in applications where aesthetics doesn't matter (shredded carrots used in soups or frozen dinners, etc) or at least used as animal feed. So there's a point that it is a "marketing gimmick" to get more profit from food. And this could have a side effect of making food more expensive for people who used to get a larger discount on imperfect food.
But the argument that this one company is hurting "the poor" is a stretch.
The developers who invented it thought that people would love it for swiping left and right on grindr all day long. They have no idea how real computer users need to use computers.