There are several companies competing for ad dollars and using various platforms (search, Instagram, etc) to feed ad systems for revenue. Their systems are extremely targeted and I like the optimized ads for new brands that are finding me.
Additionally, Chinese companies are doing the same and will combine even greater amounts of data — size is extremely valuable in an economic war of east vs west. I choose us.
Forgive me, but this sounds entirely like PR-speak used by ad companies to justify the mass stalking they perform. What sort of examples are there that you enjoy, what information did they use to target you, and what made that initial information gathering be justified?
Then it would be fine for them to switch to opt-in tracking, right?
The US could operate similarly but we usually expect a warrant for such access but I think there is a big push in the US govt to expand access as well.
With PRISM starting data collection from Google more than 10 years ago I think expecting a warrant for this very valuable data is generous.
They monopolies actually do things. (c.f. general electric -> shitty finance.) They are no 1 state capitalists. They can monopoly better than we can.