Personal data is the new gold these days. Your data is valuable because it maps out who you are and what you like. Big tech has known for a long time that personal data was going to be important to reach future consumers. Google had the foresight to offer services for free in exchange for users data and they’ve forged a billion dollar corporation with your data.
As consumers, we’ve become numb to the data collection being run by big tech. It’s pretty normal for us to just click accept and give them our data without ever thinking about its value. Google isn’t the only one collecting your data, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Amazon and more are all harvesting you in some way.
The folks over at VPNMentor have a tool in which you can see what data companies are collecting. Most of the data collected is used for not only streamlining content to your liking but for selling ads and other consumer goods and services. As internet users, we have this perception that what we browse or use on the internet is free, or should be free. But the truth is, nothing is free and big advertising companies like Google have to make money some way.
With 1.5 billion users here’s what Google collects about you and what you have agreed to be collected:
With 326 million users here’s what Twitter collects about you and what you have agreed to be collected:
Facebook has over 2.3 billion users and its list of collected information is even more extensive. Hit the link below to check out VPNMentor’s interactive tool and see what these big tech companies are harvesting from you.
What do you think of these numbers? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
[button link=”https://www.vpnmentor.com/research/whos-watching-you/#/?filter=location” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: VPNMentor[/button]Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
