this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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Privacy

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Do your experiments, search for the most random thing, and it will show up in Insta

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[–] tazeycrazy@feddit.uk 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And your sure it's not Instagram/meta capturing data on the browser or whatever you use for ddg. Do you block all cookies. Have your devices been profiled or is the website you click on selling data to meta. Are you logged in on the same device. Are you inspecting traffic and seeing meta traffick when on ddg while not on insta

I'm not saying ddg would not sell your data but this would torpedo there whole selling point. You could describe the task you have done to mask your identity and then what you suspect they are doing.

[–] calidris@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This right here. If you use any of Meta's services (spyware), you likely granted it permission to rummage through your data. If you have an open browser tab, it can pull info from it.

[–] Aria@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you have an open browser tab, it can pull info from it.

Please elaborate on what you mean here.

[–] calidris@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

In simple terms, duckduckgo does not provide meta with this data, but everything around it does (if meta is granted permission to do so). Cookies, browsing history, analytic tools integrated into the sites themselves, device info, fingerprinting. They infer your search through your other activity.

I admit my wording was poorly chosen in my response.