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Google has a price for you. We found it. (proton.me)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The Price of Free Google Report.

Proton analyzed over 54,000 demographic profiles using 2025 ad auction data to estimate what advertisers pay to reach different types of Americans. The range is much wider than you might expect.

The average American generates about $1,605 a year in advertising value. A 35- to 44-year-old man in Bozeman, MT, without children, using a desktop and making high-value corporate searches, generates an estimated $17,929.30. An 18- to 24-year-old father in Fort Smith, AR, using an Android phone and making low-value searches, generates $31.05.

That’s a 577x difference between two people using the same free service.

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[–] 32 points 4 months ago (4 children)

What's really crazy is that other than the fact all of this data is collected about you and freely sold among all these companies while it's nearly impossible to see your own information or try to correct inaccuracies. It's like a social credit score and online systems are very good at following people between devices.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    They don't sell this data. It's too valuable to Google. They charge companies to display ads to people. They don't tell companies who is who so they can show them the ads themselves. That's why you can't access this data. No one can.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Yep, they are still very convinced I'm a senior citizen. Possibly because of some bureaucratic mixups from when my dad passed away; at least that's when I started getting AARP mailers, end of life planning and other such stuff intended for someone thirty years older than me

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