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Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell 'hyper personalized' ads

⁨381⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨neme@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.zip⁩

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/

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Comments

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  • Archangel1313@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This is the biggest anti-endorsement I’ve ever heard. Thank you for telling us all that. I will absolutely never be using this browser.

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  • glowie@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Sad to think there will be real people who are fine with the privacy invasive spyware

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    • Quill7513@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      my ex fiance loved personalized ads because that’s how she found out about products she wanted and i was like… but you didn’t want it before you knew it existed. you were just living your life perfectly fine and now you’re $20 poorer

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      • MITM0@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        You obviously need a privacy-conscious fiance

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    • stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      and they are your closest friends

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      • glowie@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Haha yup the amount of times I’ve tried to educate friends/family only to feel like banging my head against a brick wall would be more effective are far too many

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  • DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Never use Perplexity, got it.

    I’m old, I don’t browse the web on my phone, anyway.

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    • BenLeMan@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      And I used to recommend it to people over ChatGPT. 😭 Because it doesn’t require you to log in. Enshittification really is everywhere now.

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  • dumblederp@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Even by CEO standards, why would you state that out loud?

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    • arken@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Srinivas believes that Perplexity’s browser users will be fine with such tracking because the ads should be more relevant to them.

      He’s so out of touch that he believes their users are going to be excited by this.

      “That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you,” Srinivas said. “Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal.”

      And work-related queries won’t help the AI company build an accurate-enough dossier.

      “On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he explained.

      The personal integrity of others is a concept completely lost on this person, it seems.

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      • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The personal integrity of others is a concept completely lost on this person, it seems.

        If you have no integrity yourself, it’s hard to understand that others do.

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    • uienia@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The message is aimed at his customers (ie. his advertisers), not for the potential users of the browser.

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      • SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Maybe he’s really drank the kool aid and ACTUALLY thinks people want ads and no privacy.

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      • dumblederp@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Obviously, but it’s still not something you want getting out. Like you’d tell your clients at a vendor dinner but wouldn’t put it in an email or video conference.

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    • bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      the main goal of tech startups is to get take investors money and run away

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  • AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Ads should be illegal

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    • jaemo@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      So should subtractions!

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    • jecxjo@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      while I hate ads as much as everyone else what do you propose funds all the sites people use that are high in operating costs? I doubt many people will pay five bucks a month for every site they use. The internet will just be more retro, which I think would be fine.

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      • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Brave had a novel solution, but I think it’s mostly dead now.

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      • mattyroses@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Brave attempted to do something along those lines with BAT Never caught on.

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  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Fuck that guy sucking my time with his ads. If I want to buy a ladder I’ll go online, or go to the store and buy one. Once all this world ending shit dies down let’s get rid of “advertising” as an economic concept. We don’t need any more socio/economic engineering, we need humanity and ecology.

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    • DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ads after you buy a ladder: “Yes, you’ve had one ladder, but what about a second ladder?”

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      • Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Based on your former shopping, here’s what other shoppers have looked.

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    • pupbiru@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      i think some form of advertising is useful no matter the structure of your society: if you have a cool idea for a new product, getting the word out is an important way of making it a reality

      what we don’t need is the constant, and ever-present repetitive drone of advertising mundane things that you already know about

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  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I presume this browser is going to have an install base of about 1? Depending on how many testers they have.

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    • Valmond@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Testing is doubting anyways, amirite?

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    • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If you had read the article, it’s going to come pre-installed on Moto and probably Samsung phones.

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      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        So user error

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  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Damn, you’d really think these bozos would have learned to read a room by now, you know?

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    • samus12345@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Nearly half of the country is dumb enough to support Trump. I think he is reading the room.

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  • the_q@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Firefox forks and uBlock Origin all day.

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  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I want to say a thing that I want to happen to this ceo but it would get me banned.

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    • qyron@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Just say “I wish for this man, his ideas and his life work to slide into disregard and irrelevance and become nothing more than a footnote on idiocy”.

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      • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        “Also, may he be abducted by aliens, whisked away to a distant galaxy, and put on permanent display in an alien zoo as an example of the greed of homo sapiens.”

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    • Grimtuck@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Do you think this guy would avoid saying a thing? No, he’d come right out and tell you if he wanted you dead. As long as he could provide your with personalised ads in the afterlife.

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    • Horse@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      i’ll take the hit

      i hope he gets put up against a wall and shot

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    • Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Sent to the glue factory?

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      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Send more blue shells?

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    • celeryfc@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
      [deleted]
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      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Send more blue shells

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    • MITM0@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ok then say it.

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  • 2910000@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Srinivas believes that Perplexity’s browser users will be fine with such tracking because the ads should be more relevant to them.

    I can’t speak for anyone else but no, I would not be fine with that

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    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      ad tracking is only as personalized as the company running the ads

      If I’m advertising fake nails, it’s personalized if you like fake nails and I advertise to fake nail fans, but if I advertise to all femme people - then it’s no longer personalized, and advertisers tend to do the latter.

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  • Photuris@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Cool, I’m done with Perplexity.

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  • drspod@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    ghoul

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  • lvxferre@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Welcome to real life: advertisement is seen as filth. People might tolerate it in exchange for something else, but being “targetted” doesn’t make them less filthy; on the contrary, once you get how it’s being targetted at the expense of your privacy, comparing it with dog shit becomes unfair - because dog shit is less worse.

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  • saltnotsugar@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    For the last time I don’t want Jenna Haze shower curtains!!!

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  • raltoid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So is this another tech-bro sniffing his own farts, or does he have some plan to force the browser on people?

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  • Valmond@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I read that as “Perplexed CEO” and it kind of fits IMO.

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  • LuckyPierre@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So it’s not going to be available in the EU and UK? That’s fine.

    As I understand it, the GDPR would require explicit consent from the subject before this data could be gathered in the first place, with some significant fines if breached.

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  • MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Neat. Can we have access to everything he does online?

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  • st3ph3n@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Oh fuck right off, you ghoul.

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  • Linktank@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “Nobody liked that.”

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  • CgH10N4Co2@lemmy.cafe ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No thanks

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  • JokeDeity@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Very cool stuff, Mr. Technofascist!

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  • HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.one [bot] ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Hey, that sounds like a terrible idea.

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  • _core@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Will he be perplexed when his browser fails?

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  • ogler@lemmynsfw.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    perplexed about the value proposition here

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  • Cocopanda@futurology.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    And I’m happy to let this bro know. I will never use your product. Go suck a cows nipple. Ya bitch.

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  • Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I don’t know what Perplexity is but I know I don’t want it.

    Let me guess, two guys in a garage, both Linked In "CEO"s, strapping more spyware to Chromium?

    I even went to the website. It doesn’t what they are, but it’s something to do with AI, which figures…

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  • Delphia@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m morbidly curious as to how well they could do trying to get my profoundly cheap self to spend money.

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  • Ledericas@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    google has been dying to do this for ages, they might just follow perplexity example.

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