system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: I don't care that facebook and there social media sites sell my browsing info to ad companies

*other social media sites

What does it even matter? The service is free to me because I'm the product - that was obvious from the beginning. I can't believe it was a shock to anyone.

And how does it negatively affect me? So instead of getting ads for bunion pads, I get ads for period pads. Worst case, the ad doesn't matter to me and I ignore it. Best case, it's actually a product I'd use and I learn about it when I otherwise wouldn't have.

And I get to keep using social media for free (maybe a bad thing but that's a whole nother post).
gpt
The problem is that these little pieces of your browsing info can be pieced together to incriminate you. There's no regulatory agency making sure this info isn't leaked from the ad company. For example let's say you search, "drug store" on Google maps, then a couple hours later, the term "when is the right time to have an abortion", then a few hours later, you're back on Google maps searching "Planned Parenthood".

Of course, abortion isn't illegal, and it's nothing to be ashamed of, but what if you are from a religious background? What if someone chooses to share this information with your family? What if you run for president one day under a heavily religious campaign (as they all seem to do), and your opponent just happens to find a way to snag this data? Of course , they probably wouldn't get it straight from Facebook, but that ad company, who's really regulating where they sell that info? Suddenly there's 'leaked documents' showing that you had an abortion in 2020, and guess what, now it's 2040 and abortion is a felony in your country.

What if this whole time, you were making these searches to help a friend, or if the pregnancy was the result of abuse, or if the searches were all completely unrelated? People will always draw their own conclusions with little bits of information like this, and we don't know how this info will be weaponised against us one day, either by some unforseen adversary, or, more likely, our own government.