Have you ever wondered how Instagram knows you love street food reels or how YouTube magically queues up just the right mix of “lofi + motivation” music? The answer lies in how your online behaviour, those innocent-looking likes, follows, and clicks gets turned into detailed personal profiles.
In today’s data-driven economy, our digital footprints are the new oil. But unlike a traditional footprint, these digital trails follow us everywhere from the apps we use to the ads we see. In this blog, let’s understand how companies take something as harmless as a "like" and transform it into powerful behavioural profiles used for marketing, manipulation, or more.
What is Behavioral profiling?
Behavioral profiling refers to the practice of analyzing patterns in user behavior, likes, shares, browsing history, purchase trends to build a digital portrait of your personality, preferences, and even mental state.
In simpler terms: your data reveals not just what you like, but who you are.
This profiling helps companies deliver ultra-targeted ads, recommend content, predict future behaviour and even influence your choice.
From “like” to Label: The profiling Process
Let’s break it down step-by-step:
1. Data Collection
Whenever you:
- Like a Facebook post,
- Follow a creator on Instagram,
- Pause on a reel,
- Add a product to your wish list you are generating data
This data is logged often without your active consent in real time.
2. Data Aggregation
Now this data is pooled together. Your search history, location, device information, time of activity, and click patterns are combined using cookies, pixels, on websites you use.
Third-party trackers often sync these data points across platforms.
3. Pattern Recognition
Machine learning algorithms analyses this aggregated data to find patterns. For example:
- Frequent likes on motivational posts = high engagement profile
- Regular searches on skincare = likely female, mid-20s to early 30s
- Pausing on cat reels/dog reels = pet lover?
These assumptions become part of your “profile vector”.
4. Profile Labelling
You are now tagged with characteristics such as:
- “Shopaholic urban female”
- “Political dissenter”
- “Fitness-obsessed Gen-Z”
- “High-risk borrower”
These tags are monetized, sold to advertisers or used internally for targeted communication.
The Power (and Danger) of Innocent Data
You might think: "But I never shared anything personal!" That’s where it gets scary. Behavioral profiling doesn’t always need your phone number or Aadhaar; it builds accuracy over time using only behavioral cues.
A famous case: Cambridge Analytica used Facebook “likes” to psychologically profile voters. Just 10 likes could predict someone’s personality better than their co-workers. With 150, the system outperformed family members.
Even public data such as your comments on Twitter, your movie ratings, or hashtags you follow can feed these profiling engines. This is why even privacy-savvy users can get caught in the profiling web.
Indian Laws & Global Perspectives
Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023, behavioral profiling falls under "processing of personal data", which must be fair and lawful. But consent fatigue and vague privacy notices make real control difficult.
Globally, GDPR (EU) requires companies to disclose when automated profiling occurs especially if it impacts rights like job eligibility or credit scoring. However, enforcement remains weak, and companies often find grey areas to operate in.
Real-Life Example: Netflix and Personalized Thumbnails
Ever noticed how Netflix shows different cover art for the same show depending on who’s logged in?
If you’re into comedy, the thumbnail for “Money Heist” might show the goofy Professor. If you're an action junkie, it shows guns and masks.
This isn't random it’s profiling based on your past watch history and choices. It's not dangerous per se, but it shows how far platforms go to manipulate what you click on next.
Why Should You Care?
Here’s why this matters:
- Manipulated Choices: You’re not choosing content; content is choosing you.
- Filter Bubbles: You see only what aligns with your profile, reinforcing your beliefs.
- Economic Discrimination: Prices of flight tickets or loans may differ based on your profile.
- Surveillance Capitalism: Your behavior is the product being sold.
“You are not the customer. You are the raw material.”
How Can You Protect Yourself?
You can’t go entirely invisible, but you can reduce profiling impact:
- Use privacy browsers like Brave or Firefox with strict settings.
- Clear cookies regularly or browse in incognito.
- Limit permissions to apps (does a calculator need GPS access?).
- Use extensions like Privacy Badge.
- Regularly check ad preferences on Facebook/Google and delete unnecessary categories.
Final Thoughts
Your “likes” may look trivial to you, but to companies, they’re gold. In the digital world, behavioral data is silently shaping how we think, shop, vote, and feel.
While profiling helps personalize services, it becomes dangerous when done without transparency or consent.
Want to go deeper into behavioral data, and data laws like DPDPA or GDPR?
Learn more with CourseKonnect’s live and recorded courses on Data Privacy, and Tech Law.
References
1. EU GDPR -https://gdpr-info.eu/
2. Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
3. Social media marketing Mastery: How to turn Likes into Loyal Customerhttps://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-marketing
4. Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behaviorhttps://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1218772110
5. The Cambridge Analytica Fileshttps://www.theguardian.com/news/series/cambridge-analytica-files
