It should not come as a great surprise that Amazon collects data about you based on what you buy. If you purchase a large volume of cat litter, the e-commerce giant will probably infer that you have cats in your household. If you regularly buy anti-acne skin care products, Amazon might easily guess that you are prone to breakouts. Even though most consumers are well aware that the retail behemoth customizes their online shopping experiences based on purchase history, it still comes as a distinct shock to see all of those personal details laid out in a convenient, neatly organized list. This is especially true when those algorithmic assumptions get uncomfortably intimate.
One user on Meta’s Threads platform recently came across a specific section of her Amazon settings where users can view exactly who the shopping giant believes they are. Alongside more benign and standard market assumptions—such as "Shops from women’s departments" and "Probably owns a Shark robot vacuum"—she discovered that Amazon’s profiling algorithm had boldly concluded she "has flat buttocks."
"I stumbled upon a page of assumptions that Amazon has made about me based on my purchases and I’m literally speechless," an Amazon customer who posts under the handle @fangirlinmegan wrote on Threads. "I mean it ain’t wrong, but damn did you have to call me out like that?"
In less than a day, the post garnered over a million views, sparking widespread amusement and alarm across social media, including many from curious users eager to find out what their own hidden Amazon profiles might reveal.
For those looking to check their own profiles, the data trail is deeply embedded within Amazon’s user settings, though finding it requires navigating through several menus. On a desktop computer, users can locate this page by hovering over the area where Amazon displays "Hello, [your name]" in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage. Clicking "Account" under the "Your Account" section leads to a dashboard of options. Under the "Ordering and shopping preferences" heading, clicking "Your Shopping preferences" opens up a page where customers can manually add information about themselves, such as shoe size, personal interests, and dietary preferences.
However, for those seeking out Amazon’s automated behavioral profiling rather than managing their own inputs, the path goes a bit deeper. Scrolling to the bottom of that preferences page reveals a blue hyperlinked option that reads "Manage your information." Once clicked, it opens a window displaying the digital dossier and behavioral dirt that Amazon has compiled on the user. For users navigating the platform on the mobile app, a similar destination can be reached by tapping the hamburger menu icon from the bottom menu bar, then navigating successively through Account, Shopping preferences, and finally, About you.
The automated profiling is often surprisingly accurate, casting a wide net over a user’s lifestyle, hobbies, and consumer habits. For many users who have investigated the page, Amazon has successfully gleaned specific personality traits and hobbies. For instance, the profile might note that a consumer "practices photography," "plays collectible card games," or is deeply "invested in the Apple ecosystem."
For some, the automated assessment can even feel oddly flattering. One tech journalist noted that Amazon correctly observed they "read diverse non-fiction," prompting a humorous internal reaction of validation regarding their open-minded intellect and unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
Other colleagues across the industry similarly found that Amazon accurately documented their varied interests in vinyl records and ceramics, as well as a distinct penchant for "natural materials" in home decor and clothing that "prioritizes comfort." None of those profiles featured anything quite as startling or visually affronting as an assumption that a customer "has flat buttocks," though the original Threads user who brought the feature to viral prominence noted a logical explanation for the algorithmic conclusion. She realized that the specific categorization was likely triggered by her previous purchases of "butt scrunch leggings."
Incidents like this highlight a broader, more pervasive reality of modern consumer culture: major technology companies know an immense amount of personal information about us, and it can often be jarring to realize just how closely automated systems are paying attention to the minutiae of how we navigate and use their platforms. We live in an increasingly digitized world marked by alarming surveillance and data harvesting across nearly every digital touchpoint. But while digital tracking takes many forms—from targeted advertising to heavy-handed corporate data collection—discovering that an algorithmic retail profile has taken stock of your physical attributes serves as a uniquely vivid reminder of the intimate scope of modern data profiling.
