Ask the question “What does Google know about me,” and the answer may shock you.
It knows a lot. It knows where you’ve been on the internet and where you’ve been in real life too. And if it knows that much about one person, it knows that much about everyone.
Take what people look up on the internet. Google’s web browser sends anything typed into the search bar to a Google server in real time, even before you hit enter.
Or private conversations on Gmail with friends, family, or anyone else. Google scans every single one and uses that information to train its AI tool, Gemini.
And the routes people take using Google Maps. Google saves and tracks every location, including the date and time traveled.
Even for those who try to avoid using Google, its services are intertwined in the internet(nytt vindu). Over half of all websites use Google Analytics, which captures information from web or app visits — meaning Google can track and gather data on people even if they don’t use Google to search or Chrome to navigate.
That question alone is reason enough to dig deeper into just how much Google actually knows.
Understanding Google’s reach
This list of things Google knows about you is extensive. The company actively acquires and knows the following:
- Calendar: Your schedule, your appointments, your meetings, who they’re with, and where.
- Web and app activity: What websites you visit, the apps you use, and how often you’re on them.
- Photos: The location of your photos, the members of your family, and your friends.
- Documents: The way you write and the topics you write about.
- Internet search history: What you search for, even if you don’t press enter.
- Email: Gmail scans the email you send and receive.
- Your voice: Google knows how you sound and the way you talk if you use Google Home, Nest, or any other Google Assistant-branded apps.
- Maps history (also known as timeline): Where you go and when.
- YouTube search and watch history: Your searches (from cooking videos to tutorials on how to change a tire) create a vivid profile of you. Time spent on each video is also tracked.
When this list is taken together, Google can make a ton of assumptions and draw a lot of conclusions about you.
How can you find out what Google knows about you?
Step-by-step instructions
You can’t type “What does Google know about me?” into Google and expect to get an answer. But you can take steps to understand the depth of what Google knows about you so you can better control your data and privacy. After all, you can only understand what you know — and Google is betting that the majority of its users won’t take the steps to find out.
Go to your profile and click “Manage Your Google Account.” On the left side you’ll see a menu of options. Click “Data and privacy.” Here are a couple of good places to start.
View my activity
Here you’ll see just about everything — and yes, we mean everything — that you’ve been up to on the internet. Browse your web and app activity, look at where you’ve been on Google maps, get a complete backlog of every YouTube video you’ve ever watched (down to the day), and more.
Other settings
If you use a smart watch, Fitbit (which was acquired by Google in 2021), or any other wearable device to monitor your physical statistics, it’s likely synced with Google Fit or Google Health. While these must be enabled for your health tracker to work, you should always consider whether you want Google to know details about your health, including your weight, menstrual data, heart rate, activity level, sleep cycle, steps for the day, etc.
Voice Match is Google’s way of recognizing your voice across its Google Home products. Your voice can be as personal as a thumbprint, and allowing Google access to your voice helps it train AI and adds to the plethora of sensitive data Google can use to identify you.
Download your data
Want the answer to “What does Google know about me?” Downloading your data is the best way to see everything that Google has collected about you. Keep in mind, the document will be large and you may have a lot to sift through. Go to the Google Dashboard (under Data & Privacy) and click on “Download your data” to request the information.
Digging deeper: Google knows things you never shared
When one Proton employee asked “What does Google know about me?”, she found that Google knew things she never personally told it and that it was learning things about her in real time.
It knew that she was recently single, even though she had never selected this option. It knew her income bracket, where she lived, that she doesn’t have kids, and that she was renting an apartment — all without her touching a single button.
When she looked at her timeline, she could see every destination she’d traveled while using Google Maps.
How to stop targeted ads
To stop targeted ads, head to myadcenter.google.com(nytt vindu) and turn personalized ads off (top right corner).
Next, go to myactivity.google.com(nytt vindu) and turn off tracking for Web & App Activity, Timeline, Play History, and YouTube History.
You can also access your Data & privacy settings by clicking on your Google Account icon > Manage your Google Account > Data & privacy.
Why it matters: The link between surveillance capitalism and Google
Google isn’t just a tech company with a search engine. It’s an advertising juggernaut. Google explains it this way:
“Google’s main source of revenue is from ads(nytt vindu) on our own sites and apps. Advertisers tell Google the types of audiences they want to reach, and we try to show their ads to people in those groups. Each of Google’s products and services show ads in different ways to help reach new and existing customers.”
By amassing thousands of data points on nearly everyone in the world, Google has extended its reach: Essentially, Google has so much data on us that it has become the largest engineer of the ad surveillance industry(nytt vindu).
Google gives its users the illusion of choice, and, therefore, the illusion of a better online experience. Take the wording of Google’s “personalized ads” philosophy. Through friendly language, the company encourages users to make “your ads more relevant by letting Google know what you’d like to see more or less of.” This is Google’s way of making targeted ads sound like a free service you’re receiving, rather than a way to use information about you — your location, sexual orientation, hobbies, and income bracket — to influence your decisions.
Google’s ad system is designed this way on purpose
Let’s examine this line: “Advertisers tell Google the types of audiences they want to reach, and we try to show their ads to people in those groups.” It sounds harmless, but it isn’t.
Google uses a system known as “real-time bidding” (RTB) to auction off your data to the highest bidder.
Here’s how it works: First, Google builds an in-depth profile on you using your data. Then, it broadcasts that data to thousands of companies that compete in an auction to buy ad space, which will appear as a targeted ad on your computer screen.
This raises serious risks. Because your data is being exposed to thousands of advertisers in a matter of nanoseconds, it could also fall into the hands of data brokers, cybercriminals, or the US government.
“Each time you see a targeted ad, your personal information is exposed to thousands of advertisers and data brokers,” writes Lena Cohen from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “This process does more than deliver ads — it fuels government surveillance, poses national security risks, and gives data brokers easy access to your online activity.”
How to protect your identity and data from Google
There are steps you can take to protect your identity without compromising your experience on the web. If you are concerned about keeping your data private, consider the following:
- Stay signed out of Google and use a VPN(nytt vindu) like Proton VPN.
- If using Google or Chrome, turn off tracking settings.
- Use a different search engine besides Google Search (Chrome’s default).
- Switch to a privacy-first email service like Proton Mail.
- Opt for an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage like Proton Drive.
- Edit documents and keep them private using Proton Docs and Proton Sheets. (Your files will never be used to train AI.)
Protect yourself with Proton
A better internet starts with privacy and freedom, not tracking and surveillance. At Proton, we’ve developed a suite of tools for business and personal use so you can take control of your data with end-to-end encrypted apps that always keep your identity safe.
Founded in 2014, Proton was created by scientists who envisioned an internet where privacy is the default. In today’s ad-surveillance industry, it’s more important than ever to have services that you can trust.
When you sign up for Proton, you’re one step closer to leaving Big Tech behind — so you’ll never have to ask “What does Google know about me?” again.
Our apps are open source, independently audited, and trusted by journalists, activists, professors and Nobel Prize winners alike. If you’re ready to protect your privacy, sign up for Proton today.
