Comment by tbrockman

“Better-targeted advertisements” is not the most nefarious way this information is used. That’s just one of the selling points to entice advertisers. It’s also been used extensively to determine content that you will find the most engaging, regardless of whether it’s to your benefit or not, so that ad-driven marketplaces may harvest and sell your attention.

If you have any contemporary examples of the way the government has used the same information, in a way that’s been more widely destructive, I would be curious to know more.