Website Privacy Reviews

Google collects extensive data across its ecosystem — search history, location, device info, voice recordings, and browsing activity — to power targeted advertising. In February 2025, Google began allowing advertisers to use digital fingerprinting, a tracking method it had previously called 'wrong,' making it harder for users to stay anonymous even with VPNs or incognito mode.

Facebook (Meta) collects extensive personal data including posts, messages, contacts, location, and browsing activity across millions of third-party websites via the Meta Pixel. A 2024 Consumer Reports study found that an average of 2,230 companies shared data about each participant with Facebook.

TikTok collects unusually extensive data including keystroke patterns, clipboard contents, biometric identifiers (faceprints and voiceprints), device hardware serial numbers, and browsing activity within its in-app browser. TikTok's privacy policy explicitly states it collects 'keystroke patterns or rhythms' and clipboard content.

Amazon collects extensive data across its ecosystem — purchase history, browsing behavior, Alexa voice recordings, smart home device data, and credit history from bureaus. In March 2025, Amazon removed the ability for Echo users to process voice commands locally, requiring all audio to be sent to Amazon's cloud.

Reddit collects standard account and usage data, but the major privacy concern is its AI data licensing deals. Reddit signed multi-million-dollar deals with Google and OpenAI to license user-generated content for AI training — content users created for community discussion, not AI development.

LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft) collects extensive professional and personal data and was fined €310 million by Ireland's DPC in October 2024 for using members' data for behavioral analysis and targeted advertising without valid consent. The DPC found that LinkedIn's consent mechanisms were inadequate and that its claim of 'legitimate interest' did not override users' privacy rights.

Instagram does not have its own privacy policy — it operates under Meta's Privacy Policy, the same one covering Facebook, Messenger, and Threads. This means all your Instagram activity feeds into Meta's unified data ecosystem.

Netflix collects extensive viewing behavior data — reportedly up to 160,000 data points per 30 seconds of watching — including what you watch, when, for how long, what you pause, rewind, or skip. Netflix uses this to power its recommendation engine (which drives over 80% of content watched).