A woman showed how to find all the information Google has stored about you.
TikTok user @yorgoandlea posted a short clip showing how to find out what data Google knows about you.
In the clip, she goes to Google and searches for ‘ad settings google’ and logs in, from here she scrolls through a list where you can quickly see that the age, gender and even the languages she speaks are stored.
It also seems to show things she might be interested in, such as ‘architecture’ and ‘audio equipment’.
The clip has garnered hundreds of thousands of views and has been inundated with comments from people who have been surprised how much Google knows about it.
One person wrote, “Oh God. I tried – the amount of information!”
Someone else posted, “It’s scaryly accurate.”
A third said, “That’s why I turn all these things off.”
However, others looked at theirs and found that the information was far away.
One person said, “Why does mine say I’m 44+, I’m literally 19.”
Another replied, “Apparently I’m 65 years old and interested in Utah and reality TV shows.”
As you probably know, the search engine stores information about its users such as the videos you watch, location, cookie data and the ads you click.
According to Google, it does this to make [its] services work better for you ‘.
The page explains that “Google makes your ads more useful on Google services (such as Search or YouTube), and on websites and apps that partner with Google to show ads.”
It adds, ads are based on personal information you have added to your Google account, data from advertisers who partner with Google, and Google’s assessment of your interests.
“Choose a factor to learn more or update your preferences.”
Google promises never to sell your data, and the company says it uses it to “ make ads relevant ” while you’re online – but it does this without handing over your information to advertisers.
And if you really don’t like it, you can always choose to turn off ad personalization in Google. You can find that option on the same ad settings page where you find your data.