We all know companies profile us. But understanding that abstractly is one thing. Reading the words “has flat buttocks” in your Amazon account is very much another.
If you’re not on Threads, this discovery is one of the latest viral posts. A woman stumbled upon this assumption while in her Amazon settings, buried among other, less inflammatory ones within the Your Shopping preferences section.
Of course, having read that post myself while doomscrolling before bed, I resolved to look at my own profile in the morning. (I have a vested interested in privacy as a topic, after all.) Turns out, Amazon has little incendiary commentary about me. You might even say I’m boring.
Here’s how you look it up. On a desktop PC, head to Account. Under Ordering and shopping preferences, click on Your shopping preferences. Then look for Manage your information at the bottom of the page. You should then see a page titled About You, listing details that Amazon says it uses to “personalize your experience for you and everyone you shop for.”
Amazon / PCWorld
For me, Amazon believes I like technology and photography. And I prefer Command strips for mounting hardware. That’s about it.
As you might guess, these assumptions are based on your shopping habits—and surprisingly upfront. (Finding the equivalent information on Facebook feels like a labyrinth of clicks, and the details aren’t as blunt as “has flat buttocks.”)
As disappointed as I am Amazon’s spiciest commentary on me was “prefers white networking cables,” I got a good lesson from looking up my profile. One, it confirms that where and how you shop affects the data that businesses collect. Two, it’s a good reminder that I should keep looking up these details on different websites and services. And three, this will only get more complicated as agentic AI services pull in and collate data about us through friends, family, and associates.
