Big Tech, Big Government, Big Problems: How to Take Back Your Privacy in the Trump era

Meta, Amazon and X have always collected your personal information. But in this new era, with Trump handing out Cabinet Positions to billionaires and walking back civil rights legislation with executive orders, it is more important than ever to protect what you let mega corporations track about your online activity.

THE ISSUE

It’s one thing for companies to track your activity while you’re on their website, but nowadays, most major corporations go even further—they track your movements off their platforms as well. Personally, having a child who identifies as non-binary, and after Trump signed an executive order erasing recognition of genders beyond male and female, I’m no longer comfortable with these companies having access to that kind of personal information—and believe me, they already do. Let’s face it, there is no telling where, and to what ends that information could be used in the near future.

I do know that with 13 billionaires sitting in his cabinet, all of which are variably tangled with either tech giants, networks, investment banking or Trump himself, the least they know about me, the better I’ll feel. And yes, I’m fully aware that I am Canadian and thus, not really targeted by what happens south. Or am I?

Here is the list of Billionaires, and nearly Billionaires that have a position in Trump’s cabinet:

• Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency co-head: $439 billion (X, SpaceX, Tesla)
• Leandro Rizzuto Jr., Ambassador to the Organization of American States: $3.5 billion (Conair)
• Warren Stephens, Ambassador to the United Kingdom: $3.4 billion (Investment Banking)
• Linda McMahon, Education Secretary: Up to $3 billion (WWE)
• Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary: $2.2 billion (Cantor Fitzgerald)
• Charles Kushner, Ambassador to France: $1.8 billion (Real Estate Developer, Convicted Felon, Pardoned by Trump, Father of Jared)
• Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator: $1.8 billion (Pioneer in Private Space Exploration, Shift4)
• Thomas Barrack Jr., Ambassador to Turkey: $1 billion (DigitalBridge Group>
• Steven Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East: $1 billion (Real Estate)
• Frank Bisiganano, Social Security Administration Commissioner: $1 billion (JPMorgan Chase)
• Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary: Reported billionaire (Soros Fund Management, Key Square Group)
• Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency co-head: $1 billion (Roivant Sciences, Strive Asset Management)
• David Sacks, AI and Crypto Czar: Net worth unknown (PayPal, Yammer, Craft Ventures)
• Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of Small Business Administration: $800 million (Bakkt, Atlanta Dream, married to billionaire and majore Trump donor Jeffrey Sprecher
• Doug Burgum, Interior Secretary: $100 million (Great Plains Software, bought by Microsoft for a billion dollars)
• Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: $100 million (Dr. Oz TV Host)

Before you point it out—yes, Elon Musk is the only name from the major tech giants on this list. So why distrust all of them? Because at Trump’s inauguration, Billionaires’ Row was front and center. This exclusive group, representing tech and retail giants, had better seats than some of the actual cabinet members. To me, this sends a clear message: we’re in trouble. Even if Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Pichai don’t hold official positions in Trumpland, it’s not hard to imagine that this administration will trade information for favors. And that information? It’s yours.

Already, although I have not confirmed this myself, I’ve seen several posts on social media hinting that accounts were made to follow Trump and the White House automatically yesterday. That’s not freedom.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

It is highly unrealistic to think that there will be mass exodus from any of those platforms. Our lives are too intertwined with technology to quit everything, cold turkey, all at once. So how do you protect yourself? Here are some ways

ON FACEBOOK

Change your settings to not allow off-Facebook tracking. To do so, click on your picture, then click on Settings & Privacy, then Settings. Scroll down all the way until you see OFF FACEBOOK ACTIVITY. Click on it. You might get prompted to enter. In the menu that will appear, you can now see everything that companies outside of Facebook have shared to Facebook about you. A lot of the sites you’re recently visited will be in there. You will be floored to find out everything Facebook knows about you. From here, you can click on “Manage future activity” and turn off tracking.

ON INSTAGRAM

Click on your picture at the bottom right, then click the three lines at the top right. Find account center and click it. Scroll down and find “Your information and permissions”. At the bottom you will see “Your activity off Meta Technologies”. Scroll to the bottom and select where it says “Manage future activity”. There, you can disconnect future activities. If you’re curious, you can go back one step and see your Recent Activity.

ON X

To prevent X (formerly Twitter) from tracking your activity outside of the platform, you can take several steps to enhance your privacy.
Open X and go to Settings and Privacy under your profile. Privacy and Safety. Navigate to Privacy and Safety > Data Sharing and Personalization.
Disable options such as “Allow use of where you see X content across the web”, “Personalize based on your inferred identity”, “Personalize ads based on your activity outside X”. Then, review Connected Apps. Under Settings > Security and Account Access > Apps and Sessions, review and revoke any apps you don’t recognize.

ON AMAZON

Turn Off Personalized Ads. Go to Amazon’s Advertising Preferences. Select “Do not show me interest-based ads provided by Amazon.” Then review Your Account Data Settings. Go to Account > Your Account > Your Content and Devices > Privacy Settings and disable data sharing options. If you have Alexa, turn Off Alexa Data Collection. Review privacy settings in the Alexa app under Settings > Alexa Privacy and turn off voice data usage.

ON GOOGLE

This is a huge one and taking these steps will only take care of the most obvious trackers. First, turn Off Ad Personalization: Visit Google Ad Settings
Turn off “Ad Personalization” to stop Google from tailoring ads based on your activity. Then, pause web & app activity aracking. Go to Google Activity Controls and disable “Web & App Activity (Uncheck “Include Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices.”)”, “Location History” and “YouTube Search & Watch History”. Make sure you delete your activity regularly. Visit Google My Activity, click “Delete Activity By” and select “All Time” or set up auto-delete options. Review and Limit Connected Apps by Visiting Google Security Checkup and revoke access to apps that don’t need access to your data.

THEN WHAT

There are several steps you can take. Always use a VPN. Install privacy-focused browser extensions to block tracking cookies and scripts such as DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger. Use a Privacy-Focused Browser like Tor for complete anonymity. Use a Non-Google Search Engine like DuckDuckGo. Clear cookies, cache, and browsing data regularly to remove tracking identifiers. Whenever possible, log out of your Google account when browsing the web to reduce tracking through cookies and session tracking.

Of course, you can move to platforms that are not owned by giants such as Bluesky. Bluesky is not owned by a tech giant. It was initially incubated within Twitter in 2019 as a decentralized social media project, but it later became an independent public benefit corporation in 2021. The platform was founded by Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, but it operates separately from Twitter (now X) and is not under the control of a major tech company like Meta, Google, or Amazon. It uses the AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol), which allows users to have more control over their data and choose different algorithms and moderation policies. And even though Jack Dorsey’s involvement gives it some association with Big Tech, Bluesky’s structure and mission are designed to be independent and focused on open-source, decentralized principles, which differentiate it from platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

IN SHORT

We don’t know what this presidency will bring, but taking control of your online privacy is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself. Stay informed, be proactive, and take the necessary steps to secure your digital footprint in this uncertain era.