Thread by @TaliaShadwell

Been debating whether I should share this - but think it’s a revealing - and somewhat creepy - insight into how big tech navigates women’s bodies: Last week I suddenly began getting mummy and baby ads on Facebook...

I don’t have children. But suddenly and out of nowhere sponsored ads for baby clothing, children’s books and pregnancy heath were cluttering my newsfeeds

I shrugged at first chalked it up to one of two things - I’m 30 now and it made sense that my social algorithms might start trolling me like an overbearing relative asking when I’m going to get married

I also have some friends with babies. I wondered if it could be because I frequently ‘liked’ posts featuring other people’s kids

It didn’t overly bother me but it was curious how often the posts began appearing over the past week. And then today I made an interesting connection

Like many women I know - I use a period tracker app. I opened it today and found I hadn’t logged last month’s cycle - it flashed a warning that I was very ‘late’

Because I had forgotten to log a cycle, the app likely concluded I was pregnant and began communicating the information to third party apps and algorithms

I corrected my cycle in the tracker app and just like that - the ads have stopped

I find several aspects of this unsettling. Firstly, the likelihood in future that my technology is likely to know I am pregnant before I do

The second is less creepy and more telling about who designs this technology- it assumed, perhaps based on my age and the fact I used a fertility tracker, that I would be happy about being pregnant right now so began sending cheery mummy ads

The other aspect - which I actually found very funny- was how quickly the algorithms were eager to sell my mythical unborn baby things

Plenty has been written about the strange assumptions of these apps - often pink themed, and designed with the assumption women use them to get pregnant - not avoid it. We are used to having personal data monetised - but this is the most striking example I’ve experienced to date

Thankyou for reading and apologies for the overshare. Here’s an insightful piece by @ArwaM on period tracking apps and surveillance theguardian.com/world/commenti…
(@CCriadoPerez)

(Also yes I’m aware that by publicly tweeting the words ‘baby’, ‘pregnancy’ and ‘fertility’ in quick succession I’ve probably triggered an excitable algorithm tripwire that’s going to send me endless pictures of women smiling with nappies until I die. RIP my sponsored ads)

Hello, thanks for the insightful responses. I’m getting quite a few ‘just use a paper calendar’ comments. Please consider many women using apps have complex, personal health reasons for tracking. A paper calendar can’t offer analysis - apps can save time, money & embarrassment

Also to everyone asking which app it was - given the volume of attention this has gotten and as a journalist I’m wary of naming and shaming publicly. It was made by a small developer and isn’t a well-known app so I’m not inclined to damage their business without smoking gun proof

Seeing as this seems to have struck a chord with so many people, I've written about this for the @DailyMirror. Sadly I didn't go with the headline suggested by my colleague @MirrorMilo : 'Mark Zuckerberg stay out of my uterus'
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/p…

When letting the world know you’re not pregnant I find it’s best to be subtle. Do it on the front page of an international news website. Next time: skywriting

Kiwi accent on the British airwaves alert: I'll be on @bbc5live live at 11.30pm GMT talking with @SJBretty about creepy apps and privacy in this brave new world

If anyone wants to hear me announce to the world when I last had my period live on the BBC, it’s your lucky day. I loved chatting last night with @SJBretty on @bbc5live (1:05 onwards)
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…

And if you don’t already listen to pop culture & current affairs podcast @thehighlowshow with @PINsykes & @dollyalderton - you should. Bit starstruck hearing these two icons discuss my creepy story on my absolute favourite podcast today. Give it a listen! play.acast.com/s/thehighlowsh…

And over on @NZStuff I’ve finally made it by New Zealand standards. I’ve achieved my dream of doing something weird enough abroad to be described as “Kiwi woman” in the intro of a news story
stuff.co.nz/life-style/117…

You can catch me on @morefmradio with Polly & Grant in just a few minutes. I’ll be calling in from the train from Birmingham to London and standing near the toilets - for authenticity