How Social Media Profiles You

Platforms do not need to read your mind—they watch what you linger on, skip, like, hide, and watch twice. Friends' behavior informs your graph too.

Inference engines label you: likely parent, likely voter, likely dieter, likely gambler. Ads follow labels; so do recommended groups that radicalize.

Even lurkers leak signals—time of day, device type, typing speed, location patterns.

Limit profiling: reset ad identifiers, turn off personalized ads in OS settings, use web versions with blockers, avoid linking contacts upload, lie on optional birthday fields if policy allows.

Talk offline about politics and health when possible—some conversations should not be training data.

Regulation may require data access and deletion—exercise rights where available.

Combine with algorithm-control and TikTok brain articles.