How to find out if Amazon thinks you have ‘flat buttocks’

Your Amazon profile now includes surprisingly specific inferences about your body shape based on your purchases.

A viral Threads post revealed that Amazon makes assumptions about its users based on their purchase history, including the surprising and sometimes unflattering "flat buttocks" assessment. The user, @fangirlinmegan, shared her discovery, which quickly gained over a million views, prompting many others to explore their own Amazon profiles. The article provides instructions on how to access this "About You" section, detailing steps for both desktop and mobile users. On desktop, users can find it by navigating to Account > Ordering and shopping preferences > Your Shopping preferences. On mobile, it's accessible via the hamburger icon > Account > Shopping preferences > About you. While some assumptions are benign, such as "practices photography" or "invested in the Apple ecosystem," the "flat buttocks" inference was directly linked to the user's purchase of "butt scrunch leggings."

This revelation highlights the increasingly granular data retailers are collecting and inferring about consumers, extending beyond typical demographic or interest-based profiling. The "flat buttocks" example, while humorous, underscores how purchasing decisions, particularly in apparel, can lead to direct, and potentially embarrassing, assumptions about physical attributes. This level of detail in consumer profiling raises questions about data privacy and the extent to which companies should leverage purchase history for such intimate categorizations.

The viral nature of this discovery suggests a public fascination with and concern over the depth of data Big Tech companies possess. As consumers become more aware of these hidden profiles, it could influence their shopping behavior and potentially drive demand for greater transparency and control over their personal data. Companies like Amazon may need to re-evaluate how they present and utilize inferred user data, especially when it becomes unexpectedly personal.