Amazon is roasting users with their own shopping habits, but it don’t have nothin’ on us
Amazon’s ‘About You’ feature, which rolled out in May, has sparked viral discussion this week as users discover the surprisingly personal—and sometimes embarrassing—conclusions Amazon has drawn about them based on their shopping data and browsing habits.
The feature provides users with a glimpse into Amazon’s data collection practices by displaying what the company has inferred about their preferences and characteristics. The tool gained significant attention after a Threads user posted that Amazon’s ‘Product Preferences’ section had categorized her as having “flat buttocks,” based apparently on her purchase history. Her post resonated widely, with other users sharing similarly awkward and oddly specific Amazon assessments of their bodies and lifestyles.
The revelations highlight the extensive profiling that occurs behind the scenes on one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. While data collection for targeted advertising is standard practice across major tech companies, Amazon’s willingness to surface these categorizations—even in such blunt terms—has struck many users as both humorous and unsettling. The feature effectively pulls back the curtain on algorithmic assumptions, demonstrating how shopping patterns can lead to surprisingly personal conclusions.
The viral moment underscores growing user awareness and concern about corporate data harvesting, even as it frames the issue in accessible, comedic terms. Amazon’s ‘About You’ transparency tool, intended perhaps to inform users about data practices, has instead become a cultural talking point about the invasiveness of modern consumer tracking.