Want to know what Amazon thinks about you? Just check out your “About You” page.
The page — essentially a customer dossier built from activity across an Amazon customer’s purchase history, searches, saved lists, written reviews, and Alexa for Shopping conversations — has gone viral.
While Amazon says the editable page gives some transparency into which products it’s recommending, shoppers on social media have been laughing about its amusingly specific conclusions. One shopper, it said, has “flat buttocks,” while it told another shopper that their husband had “skinny legs.“
Our office checked out the page on Wednesday, too, and found that its conclusions were sometimes acutely accurate, and sometimes dead wrong.
There’s data collection underlying those conclusions — and we’ve heard from plenty of readers that that makes them nervous.
Amazon says it does not collect any information from third parties for About You.
“The details on About You come from information customers share through their activity across Amazon,” an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider.
That means a shopper who regularly orders cat food may see an inference about owning a cat. A person buying children’s clothes or birthday gifts could prompt an assumption about having children.
A person who only tells another app about their pant size shouldn’t see that information on About You, Amazon says.
It’s also editable
Shoppers can find the feature by tapping:
- Account
- Shopping preferences
- About You
Amazon says the results are not permanent. Customers can tap an individual detail to explain why it is wrong, or remove information they do not want used for recommendations.
That gives shoppers a limited right of reply — but it is not necessarily a button to erase their underlying Amazon history. Removing a detail from About You tells Amazon not to use that information for personalization; it does not automatically delete the purchases, searches, or other Amazon activity that may have prompted the inference.
Still, if Amazon has decided you are devoted to a certain hobby, a specific snack, or a product line that no longer fits your life, you do not have to let that judgment linger.
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