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Kylee Evancho
Overview: Netflix gathers and tracks your information as you use its service. Knowing your viewing habits helps improve your viewing experience by showing you more of what you like. If you don't want other users of your account to see your viewing history or Netflix to keep a record of it, you can hide this information.
Action: Open Netflix via a web browser and go to Account. In the Profile & Parental Controls section, expand your profile and click View next to "Viewing Activity". To hide a title, click the Hide icon to the right of "Report a problem." You can also click Hide All at the bottom of the page to hide all your viewing activity. After 24 hours of being hidden, a title will no longer be used to make recommendations to you, unless you play it again.
Overview: Unless you opt out, your entire profile as a traveler is public and available to be seen on search engines. This includes the description about yourself, wish lists, and reviews you left or received. Fortunately, you have the option to limit your privacy exposure.
Overview: Fraudsters may try to get into your booking.com account, as it stores valuable information such as personal data and payment details. If you received an unrecognized 'new sign-in' email or have observed suspicious changes, your account may have been compromised.
Like most big tech companies, Netflix gathers and tracks information about you as you use its service. Getting to know your viewing habits helps improve your viewing experience by showing you more of what you like, but the data gathering goes further than that.
The amount of information required depends on whether you sign up for an ad-free or ad-supported plan. Ad-free plans require data such as your name, payment method, contact information and phone number, while the ad-supported option also asks for your date of birth and gender.
If you choose to jump-start your recommendation algorithm, you can let Netflix know a number of titles you're interested in. You might also participate in surveys or engage with customer support staff, during which you offer additional information about yourself.
If you sign up for an ad-supported plan, Netflix will use your date of birth, gender and general location information (based on your IP address) to tailor advertising for your demographic. It may also track your general online activity to across various unaffiliated third-party apps or websites to target more specific content.
This is called 'behavioural advertising' and you can opt out of it if you'd prefer. Click your profile icon in the top right corner then select Account from the drop-down menu. Next, go to Edit settings > Privacy and data settings and turn off Allow behavioural advertising.
This information is used to decide which titles it includes in each row on a menu page. It also determines the order in which the titles are positioned (ranked from left to right), and the order in which the rows appear on the page (ranked from top to bottom).
If you'd prefer more direct control over the categories or genres you can peruse, jump on a web browser and use specific URLs to get your results. For example, netflix.com/browse/genre/10702 will give you "Spy Action & Adventure". Replace the numbers at the end of that URL with 8711 for "Horror Movies" or 5349 for "Historical Documentaries" and so on.
To find these search options, do a web search for "secret Netflix URLs" to discover plenty of websites with huge lists of categories to choose from. It's not certain that any site has the complete set, and some links have been shut down over the years (such as the sorely missed 8742 "Cool Moustaches" category).
But you can hide this information. Open Netflix via a web browser and go to Account. In the Profile & Parental Controls section, expand your profile and click View next to "Viewing Activity".
Netflix collects non-viewing data from your interactions with its service and from third parties. This data can include which devices you use, any devices on your local network, IP address, interactions with advertising, rough location at each login, and more.
You can request Netflix send you the information it has about you by visiting the Netflix Get My Info page. We did this for our ad-based and ad-free accounts and the amount of information is extensive, but didn't appear to contain anything alarming or unexpected. Each subscription matched the claims in the privacy policy.
The personal information we downloaded as part of our ad-free subscription had no socio-demographic details. This includes age, gender, nationality, occupation, education, relationship or family status, sexuality and political preferences. The ad-based account did add age and gender as outlined on the subscription page, but that was it.
The only data of this kind that Netflix appears to use is aggregate data for research purposes. This includes interviews and panels from people who consent to provide information, but Netflix claims this is separate from its service and doesn't include personal information associated with individual members.
Location information seems limited to an approximation based on your IP address each time you use Netflix. We saw no evidence of the precise GPS tracking used by other companies such as Google or Facebook, among others, via mobile devices like smartphones.
Netflix isn't in the business of hunting down its own advertisers. Instead, it uses ad service providers which are the middle man between a platform like Netflix and brands looking for places to advertise.
Ad service providers scrape information and data from every corner of the internet. For example, a public Instagram post may be used to hone demographic information linked to your IP address. Data like this may be supplied to Netflix to assist with targeted advertising.
Given Netflix doesn't appear to collect much personal information, there isn't too much to share for ad-free subscription tiers. When it does, this sharing seems limited to necessary activities such as linking with your internet provider, voice-assistant platforms, security, law enforcement and providing customer service, among others.
Necessary information is shared with other services that Netflix uses to deliver content. For example, Netflix doesn't operate a bank so some information needs to be shared between it and your financial institution if you pay with a credit card.
The Netflix privacy policy states that "you may have a relationship with one or more of our Partners, in which case we may share certain information with them in order to coordinate with them on providing the Netflix service to members and providing information about the availability of the Netflix service".
While Netflix's privacy statement can be vague, it doesn't specify some of the data gathering and sharing practices commonly used by big tech. These include things like precise location tracking, sharing personal details with third parties for the purpose of advertising, and collecting and using an individual's socio-demographic information to push content.
Clearing your history helps Netflix's algorithm provide content that is better suited to your tastes. By removing unwanted viewing data, you ensure that the platform recommends movies and series you are more likely to enjoy. This will make your streaming experience more personalized and enjoyable, reflecting your true preferences.
I've prepared a detailed guide that will lead you through the necessary steps to delete your Netflix history effectively. This guide covers deleting history on different devices, including your TV, phone, and laptop. By following these steps, you can improve your Netflix recommendations and enjoy a cleaner, more tailored viewing experience.
By following these guides, you can effectively manage and clear your Netflix viewing history across various devices, ensuring that your recommendations remain relevant and personalized to your tastes. Just bear in mind that it may take up to 24 hours for the title to be removed from your history.
After you've cleared your Netflix history, you've taken a great step towards maintaining your privacy and tailoring your streaming experience. However, managing your history is just part of the story. What if you could expand your content options, change the Netflix region, and easily get subtitles in different languages? Check out our detailed guides for an enhanced Netflix experience:
8. Enhance your online safety and privacy. Using a VPN can encrypt your internet traffic and protect you on public WiFi. Choose a reputable VPN provider to access Netflix securely from anywhere.
To influence Netflix recommendations, start by rating the titles you watch using the thumbs up or thumbs down feature. This feedback helps Netflix understand your preferences. Additionally, watch more content that aligns with your interests and create and use separate profiles to keep recommendations personalized.
Additionally, you may want to review and manage your viewing activity regularly by deleting titles that do not reflect your tastes. Exploring new genres and types of content can also refine Netflix's suggestions to better match your preferences.
To download your Netflix watch history, access the Viewing activity settings on your device. Scroll down and click the Download all link. Tap the Download viewing activity button and press OK.
Deleting your Netflix history is an essential step to reclaim your personalized viewing experience. When someone else uses your account, their preferences can disrupt your recommendations and clutter your viewing history with unwanted titles. This can be frustrating, as it skews the algorithm and leads to suggestions that don't match your interests.
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