Google isn’t just a search engine—it’s deeply embedded into almost every aspect of the internet and your personal life.
If you use Gmail, Google scans your emails to extract keywords and analyze your conversations. If you use Google Chrome, your entire browsing history is being logged, even in Incognito mode. Android phones are essentially Google-tracking devices in your pocket, collecting location data, app usage, and even the words you type. Google Maps knows where you go, how long you stay, and can predict your routine. YouTube tracks every video you watch, how long you watch it, and what you interact with.
But here’s where it gets even darker—Google collects data even before you hit send. That means whatever you type in a search bar, in Gmail, or even in Google Docs is already being processed and analyzed.
What Google Does with Your Data
Google’s business model isn’t about providing free services—it’s about turning you into a product. They don’t sell your data—they sell access to you.
Google builds a detailed profile on you—your age, gender, interests, political beliefs, shopping habits, relationship status, medical conditions, financial situation, and even your mood. This profile is then used to sell targeted ads through Google Ads, one of the most powerful advertising platforms in the world.
Ever searched for something and suddenly seen ads for it everywhere? That’s Google’s data machine in action.
But here’s the scary part—it’s not just about ads. Google also shares data with third parties, including law enforcement and intelligence agencies. If the government asks Google for your search history, location, or messages, they can hand it over—and in many cases, you won’t even be notified.
Google’s dominance over cloud storage, productivity apps, and search engines means that avoiding its reach is nearly impossible—unless you actively take steps to de-Google your life.
Google’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy:
- Information Collection: Google collects various types of information, including user-provided data (such as name and email address), content created or uploaded by users, and data from users’ usage of Google services.
- Usage of Collected Information: The collected data is utilized to maintain and improve services, develop new offerings, personalize user experiences, and provide tailored content, such as more relevant search results and advertisements.
- Information Sharing: Google shares personal information with affiliates and other trusted businesses or persons to process it on their behalf, based on Google’s instructions and in compliance with their Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
Meta
Facebook (Meta) takes surveillance to a whole new level. The company doesn’t just track what you do on Facebook—it tracks what you do across the entire internet, even if you don’t use their platforms.
Every like, every comment, every message you send through Messenger or WhatsApp is analyzed, stored, and monetized. Facebook knows who you talk to, what you like, where you go, what topics interest you, and how long you engage with a post.
But here’s the worst part—even if you’ve never had a Facebook account, they still track you.
Through Meta Pixel, Facebook is embedded on millions of websites across the internet. When you visit a site that uses Meta Pixel, Facebook gets a report on your activity—even if you don’t have a Facebook account or are logged out.
In other words, Meta has shadow profiles on millions of people who have never even signed up.
How Meta Uses Your Data
Meta doesn’t just sell ad space—it sells hyper-personalized psychological profiling.
Facebook doesn’t just know what you’re interested in—it knows when you’re most vulnerable to influence. That’s why advertisers, political campaigns, and even intelligence agencies love Meta’s platform.
This goes far beyond selling products—Meta has been used to manipulate elections, spread misinformation, and even alter public opinion.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed how Meta’s data collection could be weaponized. In that case, data from 87 million Facebook users was harvested without consent and used to target voters with psychological warfare-style political ads.
Meta’s AI algorithms are designed to keep you engaged for as long as possible because the longer you stay, the more data they collect.
The company has also been caught spying on Instagram users through unauthorized access to their cameras, tracking location data from Messenger, and even listening to voice conversations for ad targeting—all while denying it publicly.
Meta’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy:
- Information Collection: Meta collects content, communications, and other information provided by users when they use their products, including when users sign up for an account, create or share content, and message or communicate with others. This can include information in or about the content provided, such as metadata.
- Usage of Collected Information: The information is used to provide personalized content and ads, improve products, promote safety and security, and communicate with users.
- Information Sharing: Meta shares user information with third-party partners who use their analytics services, advertisers, and measurement partners to provide analytics and measurement reports.