Amazon users uncover personal assumptions based on their shopping histories
Amazon's shopping preferences section displays personal assumptions the company has made about each user based on their purchase history. When a Threads user discovered Amazon assumed she had "flat buttocks," she shared the finding online, sparking a viral post that gained over a million views and prompted countless others to check what the retailer assumed about them.
Customers can access these assumptions by navigating to Account > Your Shopping preferences > Manage your information on desktop, or Account > Shopping preferences > About you on mobile. The assumptions vary widely, ranging from benign observations like "owns a Shark robot vacuum" to more intimate inferences apparently based on specific purchases, such as the "flat buttocks" assumption likely stemming from a purchase of "butt scrunch leggings."
- Amazon's profile feature shows users assumptions about them based on purchases
- A viral post revealed one customer's finding that Amazon assumed she had flat buttocks
- The discovery prompted others to check what personal inferences the retailer has made
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Amazon's account settings include a shopping preferences section where the company stores personal assumptions it has made about each user, based on their purchase history. These assumptions are created through analysis of customer buying patterns and vary significantly in scope and specificity.
Customers can view what Amazon assumes about them by navigating their account: on desktop, go to Account > Your Shopping preferences > Manage your information, or on mobile, Account > Shopping preferences > About you. The assumptions range from straightforward observations like identifying product ownership to more intimate personal inferences apparently based on individual purchases.
Most Amazon customers appear to be unaware that such detailed personal categorisations exist within their accounts. The company uses these assumptions to personalise product recommendations and marketing, but they remain largely invisible to users unless actively sought out in the account settings.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Amazon's practice of making and displaying intimate personal assumptions based on shopping history represents invasive data profiling that extends beyond what many customers reasonably expect or consent to. The granular nature of these inferences—deducing sensitive physical characteristics from purchases—demonstrates troubling reach of data categorisation algorithms, raising serious concerns about privacy, dignity, and the power imbalance inherent in companies collecting and leveraging such detailed personal data without explicit informed consent upfront.
The case against
Amazon's shopping preferences feature provides transparent personalisation that benefits customers through improved recommendations, all derived from purchases customers voluntarily made themselves. By making these algorithmic inferences visible and correctable, Amazon arguably offers more transparency than competitors using similar algorithms invisibly; users retain genuine control over their data profile and can disable the feature entirely, which aligns with how modern e-commerce reasonably operates to enhance the shopping experience.
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Originally published by TechCrunch as “How to find out if Amazon thinks you have ‘flat buttocks’”.