Do You Know Who You Are?

Abstract

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, which requires a certain level of transparency from any organization that collects data from people in the EU, has spurred platforms to provide information about how they’re using our data. Companies often make those features available to American users as well. Under GDPR, platforms like Facebook are required to allow users to download and view their data, a feature also available to American users, which means I can make an attempt to answer my questions. What does my data identity look like when I combine my information from many different platforms? How complete can an identity constructed through data really be? How much control do I have over my data as an individual user?

To find out, I’ve downloaded my personal data reports from the platforms I use the most (Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Twitter, Spotify, and TikTok) and consolidated my findings.