It’s a fact that social media giants like Google, Facebook, and TikTok thrive on the buying and selling of personal data. This so-called “data trade” brought in over $274 billion in revenue in 2022, and it's projected to balloon to nearly $700 billion by 2030.
However, the growth of the industry has led to a rise in highly personalised ads tailored to the user based on their social behaviour and other factors like age, gender, and other demographics.
Former Facebook Director of Global Public Policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams, released an exposé book called Careless People. Inside, she reveals disturbing alleged details about how Facebook (now Meta) capitalised on this advertisement targeting system.
