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This a trick your phone is going to help you with. These are the steps I follow to keep myself "safe" online, and I accidentally learned a lot of secret information men will never tell you on their own. The steps in order:
On your home computer/phone/etc wherever you use social media, Youtube, or any sites in your actual online presence, set up a separate email you use for your actual activity and install strong adblock software Why? This prevents you from clicking on ads that would transfer to your phone since they are likely near each other frequently
On the phone you will bring with you when near men you want to vet: set up a separate account (gmail, etc, and login with this email) for your SM, Youtube, facebook, etc. This prevents any of your legitimate activity, shopping habits, etc from being displayed to others when you have your phone near htem. No adblocker here, but don't click on any ads! Use it sparingly
When near the men you want to vet, keep your phone as close to them/their phone/their computer as you can, even for a second. After a visit, your phone will start showing ads based on their online activity; it will do so vice versa, so if you followed this post closely there will be nothing vulnerable they will have on you.
I have accidentally done this when out with "friends," etc. I return to find I am getting ads for submissive female chat bots (blech, had to look these up tbh), fetish sites or toys, specific male clothing types, and other strange things I never usually see. From friends in software I was told this is because the habits of those next to you are believed to be the habits of you, as well, so you will see ads for such things they regularly use or search for - especially when the online activity data is next to zero since you never use it.
SWE queens, please refine or correct anything that needs it. I find this is a great vetting tool, and I'm able to cut even acquaintances with disturbing online activity out of my life (block and delete) with no drama, no mess.
I want to debunk some stuff here. I’m a PM on a ML shopping/Ads product at a FAANG. We cannot detect usage from your friends “telepathically”. Especially not your dates. We create audiences called “look alike” audiences - people who demonstrate similar/the same behaviour - so yes, your friends’ behaviours may be recommended to you since we know they are your friends from your Facebook friends list and/or gmail contact list. We (humans) are more predictable than we like to believe.
But unless your date happens to use your device for search, you won’t see their interests in the form of ads. So not sure all this trouble is worth it.
I do however think keeping potential dates away from your social media and setting rules (even on LinkedIn) to conceal your identity is important.
I want to add. It is illegal to collect data from a non-consenting device and ALL FAANGS are governed by Europe’s GDPR as precedence. It’s easier for us to roll out data policies based on this global standard since we operate globally.