TL;DR: Reddit is removing the option to opt out of ad personalization, targeting ads based on user activity. Some specific ad categories can still be limited, but there’s no more opt-out option.
You don’t need to go on a research project to see the personal info fields in a sign-up form.
That’s not the only way companies get data about you though. Some collect it through their app - the sites that try and force you to use the app instead of the site are usually the worst offenders. Others just buy data from data brokers like Acxiom, Experian, LiveRamp, etc. and correlate it with the details they have on you (phone number, email address, ad targeting ID, etc).
Where possible, use sites instead of apps, since it limits the types of data that can be collected (as sites are highly sandboxed compared to apps). Good sites let you install them as PWAs for a more app-like feel.
That’s not the only way companies get data about you though.
Nobody said it was.
I was mostly replying to the top level comment about choosing companies/products that respect your privacy. It’s pretty much impossible to tell if a company cares about or respects your privacy just from the sign up form.
It read as though you thought picking out one particular case that I didn’t address somehow refuted what I wrote. (Which it doesn’t, of course, because I wasn’t making an exhaustive list.)
I was mostly replying to the top level comment
I see. That was confusing, since the top-level comment wasn’t mine, yet you replied to me. Thanks for clarifying.
