Google is doing something immoral to me

I doubt it but even if I did, surely they cannot share data in that way.
read the terms and conditions, i guarantee you have given them permission and it will be obvious both accounts are you even though they are different devices
 
That's happened to me quite a few times.
Usually coincidence though, phones have been talked at in rooms about a variety of subjects and then tested and no link found. It's usually just how good and profiling can be at what you are probably looking for based on things you look at or interact with online.

It was once said that Tesco Clubcard data was so good it knew when people had been made redundant as it could spot abrupt changes in spending patterns. Less value now that people aren't so loyal and shop around but at one point people would have gotten nearly everything from there.



There’s a reason this is happening, but “listening” is probably not it.

Talking about something and seeing a digital ad for it. Thinking about something and seeing a digital ad for it. Even dreaming about something and seeing a digital ad for it.

Peoples’ collective experiences like these have led many to ask the question, “Is technology listening to us?” It’s a question that has been blatantly posed to social media leaders like Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Adam Mosseri (Instagram). Time and time again, they have adamantly denied the fact that their apps are “listening” to users via smartphone microphones and the like.

The general consensus among industry experts is that they are telling the truth. For one, doing so would be illegal. Secondly, the logistics of actively listening to, recording and storing conversations just don’t make sense when you really think about it.

Tracking, not listening

So if Facebook and Instagram aren’t listening, then how do our conversations and thoughts about products magically turn into ads?

In a way, social platforms are “eavesdropping,” but just not in the way we think.

We see digital ads after talking about something because social media apps like Facebook and Instagram are extensively tracking our actions, both online and off.

A hypothetical scenario

Let’s say you are at a birthday party, and your friend tells you about this new meal service he or she has tried and loved (let’s call it “Yummy Time.”) You have never texted about Yummy Time. You have never Googled Yummy Time. You and your friend simply have a conversation about it out loud.

Hours later, you’re at home scrolling the News Feed and whoa…there’s an ad for Yummy Time.

How they track

No, Facebook didn’t hear your conversation. They are just so good at tracking you in other ways that it can feel that way.

We know that Facebook surveils our online behaviors: i.e., what websites we visit, what terms we search for, what we purchase online, etc. These tracking methods (which get extremely sophisticated beyond what we’re describing here) have a direct influence on the ads that we see.

In the case of the conversation with the friend, we can thank location tracking for that. Even when one is not signed in to the app, Facebook (given permission by the user) can track the location of our mobile phones.

Therefore, Facebook was able to determine that you and the friend were in the same location at the party. If the friend had previously had any online interaction with Yummy Time, then there is your connection. Facebook knows you’re friends on Facebook. It knows you were together. If that friend is bringing up Yummy Time, it’s likely that he or she has had some kind of recent interaction with it—Googling it, visiting the website, etc. Even if the mentioned product was one your friend purchased in a store, Facebook location tracking can be privy to the fact that your friend was at said store.

Let’s take it a step further. Even if your friend (Friend A) had only had a conversation about Yummy Time with another friend (Friend B), then Friend A could have been the one on the receiving end of the ad prior to talking about it with you. That’s enough for Facebook to try the ad with you as well.

In other words…

Beyond just being together, Facebook’s algorithm compares your interests, demographics, places you’ve been, groups you’re a part of, hashtags you follow (the list goes on) to that of your friend. If you and your friend are similar, and the friend has already left a trail of breadcrumbs to that product, then Facebook will serve you up an ad to see if you feel the same.

Fueling the algorithm

So what about those times when you just think about something, and then you see an ad?

It can be difficult to wrap your head around, but it likely is less of a coincidence than you think. Any piece of information Facebook picked up (even just semi-related to the thought), either before or after your thought, could have led to the ad being served.

Every move you make online fuels Facebook’s algorithm. Engaging with a post, liking a person’s photo, or even using your Facebook account to sign in to another online service are all examples of this.

Essentially, a complex algorithm is “listening” to us, just not using microphones.

Can I stop being tracked?

There are permissions you can play around with to limit how Facebook tracks and uses your information. However, if you are using the social platform in any capacity, then it has enough information to go off of to “learn” your potential interests for advertising purposes.

The only true way to stop being subject to social media marketing algorithms? Quit altogether.

Summary

Seeing digital ads after talking about something is no coincidence. Though we don’t think anyone is sitting in a warehouse with a pair of headphones listening to our conversations, technology is actively monitoring our behaviors to make suppositions about our future buying inclinations.
 
Have you not had an occasion where you're talking about something and get a Google pop up about the same subject?
My mates wife was talking about a neighbour that a just had a hair transplant in Turkey, when we were all sharing a taxi in Friday.

Next day I start getting adverts for..... you've guessed it, hair transplants 👨‍🦲
 
Some products in stores have sensors in the tags so if you were to pass close enough or interact with it, your phone will know and you’ll have targeted ads based on that item.
 
It was once said that Tesco Clubcard data was so good it knew when people had been made redundant as it could spot abrupt changes in spending patterns. Less value now that people aren't so loyal and shop around but at one point people would have gotten nearly everything from there.

As someone who worked on the build of Tesco Clubcard albeit in a junior role at the start of my career, that was just one of the many stories we'd tell about the insights you got into spending patterns, alot of them inherited from Walmart in the US (IIRC).

1) There's the story of nappies and beer, and placing them together, as when Dads were sent to the shops for nappies they'd pick up a crate of beer and so product placement was in turn driven by this insight

2) There's also the story about the receipt of vouchers for pregnancy supplements breaking the news to parents / spouses about a new arrival, which opened up some very early ethical dilemas about how data should be used that continue today albeit on a much bigger and more complex scale.
 
Don’t think for a minute that GDPR was created to protect data, it was created to enable corporations to share data across international borders.
I work in it and whilst I agree with your cynicism I have dealt with a few issues raised with UK ICO where the organisation has failed in its obligations. Typically where websites fail to log you out because of cookies loaded thereby a potential breach especially on public devices.
 
I keep getting prompts to log into my Gmail account recently, which I haven’t used for anything in years. If I search for something on my phone, it will always prompt me to log in when the results come back. I’ve been wondering why this has started happening.

There was a time last year when I searched for something Boro-related on my phone and later on it appeared on my work laptop, which felt a bit odd at the time but I never give it much thought.

Recently I’ve been reading about and thinking over trying to ‘withdraw’ from the internet and delete apps, email accounts, etc and moving away from a smart phone. It would probably be futile but there’s just a sense that some of this stuff is becoming quite overtly pervasive now - it’s quite sinister. I guess it probably always was, I just didn’t realise it or decided to ignore it because it was inconvenient.
 
If any of you are concerned about your privacy, you should review the data that TikTok collects.
Google is the epitome of restraint in comparison to the tech arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
 
Nothing is free ultimately, if you're using something that is free you are usually the product, this site for example. Constant ads, some that would probably get you flagged on lists as relate to child porn or get you in trouble at work as scantily clad escort services etc. we use the internet for free because of how much data we provide advertisers and interested parties.

I've got all ad personalisation turned off and I still get those ads on this sit due to the "site demographic"

Facebook, TikTok, instagram etc track everything you do and interact with. They know what devices you use; what sort of things you like and what sort of things you share - all very valuable information. They can link your account with other data using cookies and applications that are on your devices
 
Nothing is free ultimately, if you're using something that is free you are usually the product, this site for example. Constant ads, some that would probably get you flagged on lists as relate to child porn or get you in trouble at work as scantily clad escort services etc. we use the internet for free because of how much data we provide advertisers and interested parties.

I've got all ad personalisation turned off and I still get those ads on this sit due to the "site demographic"

Facebook, TikTok, instagram etc track everything you do and interact with. They know what devices you use; what sort of things you like and what sort of things you share - all very valuable information. They can link your account with other data using cookies and applications that are on your devices
True, but the access that TikTok requires to your other apps and usage sets it apart. Have a quick look at the analytics is by tech and privacy experts.
 
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