You are the product

Big Tech profits have exploded over the last decade compared to their modest user growth. Facebook alone has seen a 3600% increase in ad revenue since 2010. The secret? They’re using your data to target ads beyond their platforms across the whole Internet.

The saying goes that if you aren’t paying for a product, you are the product. As a Facebook, Google, or Twitter user, it’s easy to think of yourself as the customer. But there’s a reason why you get access to these attractive and user-friendly services for free.

These companies make money by spying on you, building character profiles about you based on the data they collect, and selling your attention to advertisers who hope to earn money or votes from the precision data the platforms have gathered. Their entire revenue model is to learn as much as they can about you in order to deliver ever more highly-targeted ads to your browser or app window.