Big Tech’s Dirty Secrets: How Your Data Is Being Traded Without Your Consent

Every day, we share a lot of personal information with big companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon—often without realizing it. Whether we're browsing the web, posting on social media, shopping online, or just carrying our phones, our data is being collected. These companies claim to keep our data safe and use it to improve our experience, but in reality, our information is often sold or shared without our consent. Because of this, many people are turning to data removal services to regain control of their privacy and remove their personal information from the internet.

The most common way your personal data gets shared is through third-party cookies installed on websites you visit. These cookies track your browsing activity, purchases, location, and more. The site then sells this data to advertisers, data brokers, and tech companies to build detailed profiles about you for ad targeting and other purposes. You likely have hundreds of these data-gathering cookies on your devices right now without even realizing it. 

Social media sites like Facebook are another massive source of freely traded user data. When you sign up for an account, you grant Facebook rights to collect all kinds of personal info and share it with partners. According to research from 2022, Facebook hosts over 5000 third-party apps with access to user data. It even allows advertisers to target users based on sensitive interests like health conditions or political views, as exposed in the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Why You Should Be Concerned

The rampant data sharing across Big Tech should concern anyone who values their privacy. Here are some of the ways it can negatively impact you:

• Targeted ads feel invasive and can lead to unintended purchases. Advertisers know how to manipulate you into buying based on your profile.
• Your personal info could be used to scam or defraud you through phishing attacks or identity theft.
• Having your web activity tracked feels like you're being spied on and breeds mistrust of tech companies.
• There are risks of discrimination if employers, lenders, or insurers get access to sensitive health or demographic data.
• Leaked data breaches, like Facebook's in 2021, put your info in the hands of cybercriminals.

For these reasons, 84% of US adults say they worry about their data privacy either frequently or occasionally.

Regaining Control of Your Data

The good news is there are steps you can take to stop your data from being bought and sold without your consent:

• Adjust social media and browser privacy settings to limit tracking. But this doesn't remove what's already out there.
• Install tracker-blocking browser extensions like Privacy Badger.
• Sign up for a comprehensive data removal service to get your info scrubbed from dozens of shady data brokers. This is the most thorough option.
• Periodically delete cookies, browsing history, and social media to minimize new data collection.

Exercising your data privacy rights takes diligence in the digital age. But ultimately, the choice of how and where your personal information gets used should be yours. Do your research to find the right data removal and protection services for your needs. The less data freely floating around out there, the better.