techprivacyamazonsurveillance

Amazon Knows Your Deepest Secrets Based on Your Shopping Cart

Amazon's data profiling reveals uncomfortable personal details about users. Here's how to see what the tech giant thinks it knows about you.

Amazon Knows Your Deepest Secrets Based on Your Shopping Cart

You probably already knew that Amazon tracks your purchases. But did you know the company has compiled a detailed psychological profile of you based on what you buy? One Threads user recently discovered just how intimate these assumptions can get when she found that Amazon had concluded she “has flat buttocks” based on her shopping history.

The revelation sparked a viral moment, with over a million views in less than a day as curious users rushed to uncover what Amazon thinks about them. The good news: you can find out too. The bad news: you might not like what you discover.

How to Find Amazon’s Profile on You

On desktop, navigate to your account by hovering over “Hello, [your name]” in the upper right corner. Click “Account,” then find “Your Shopping preferences” under the “Ordering and shopping preferences” section. Scroll to the bottom and click the blue “Manage your information” link. That’s where the magic happens.

Mobile users should tap the hamburger menu icon, then go to Account > Shopping preferences > About you.

Once you’re there, prepare yourself. Amazon will display everything it thinks defines you as a consumer and person.

What Amazon Really Thinks About You

The viral user’s “flat buttocks” assumption came from her purchases of butt scrunch leggings. Other users reported finding similarly specific conclusions: one colleague was flagged as someone interested in vinyl records and ceramics, another for prioritizing “comfort” in clothing choices.

TechCrunch tested this feature and found Amazon correctly identified them as someone who practices photography, plays collectible card games, and is invested in the Apple ecosystem. The accuracy is almost impressive, if it weren’t so unsettling.

Amazon isn’t trying to embarrass you. It’s building a consumer profile. Every purchase feeds into a machine learning model designed to predict future buying behavior and serve you targeted ads. The company collects data on what you buy, how often you buy it, and infers personal details that go far beyond shopping habits. Buy anti-acne products regularly? Amazon assumes you have breakouts. Stock up on cat litter? Obviously you own cats.

The Creepiness Factor

What makes this jarring isn’t that Amazon collects data. It’s seeing it all laid out in one place, reduced to clinical observations about your body, lifestyle, and preferences. There’s something uniquely unsettling about a corporation summarizing who you are in a bulleted list.

We live in an era of tech surveillance so normalized that we barely flinch anymore. But when confronted with explicit statements about our intimate details, the discomfort becomes real. Amazon’s profile reads like a personality assessment written by someone who knows you only through your credit card.

This mirrors broader concerns about privacy in the digital age. Tech companies aren’t just watching us; they’re cataloging and analyzing every action, then sharing conclusions about us that feel uncomfortably accurate.

Why This Matters

Understanding what data companies hold about you is the first step toward reclaiming your digital autonomy. Amazon’s transparency here, while unintended to be unsettling, actually gives users a rare window into how they’re perceived by algorithms.

You can edit some of this information directly. Add your shoe size, dietary preferences, or interests manually. But the system will continue learning from your purchases whether you update it or not.

The real question isn’t whether Amazon should stop selling you products you need. It’s whether we’re comfortable with corporations building psychological profiles of us based on consumption patterns, and what that means for advertising, manipulation, and consent in the digital marketplace.

At least now you know exactly what Amazon thinks about you. Whether that knowledge is comforting or disturbing probably depends on what you’ve been buying.

Source: TechCrunch

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