The 10 most invasive sites on the internet

We all know that our online browsing habits are being tracked. Unless you take steps to prevent it, most websites see where you come from, what you are searching for and what you like. 

All this data is valuable to sites and services, as they use it to serve targeted advertising. Ever searched for something on Amazon and then seen an ad for a similar product on Facebook? That is targeted advertising at work.

Thankfully, not all websites treat you as a treasure trove of information. You might be pleasantly surprised to find out which sites have the least amount of trackers. But on the other end of the spectrum, the biggest culprits shamefully stuff their sites with hundreds of trackers.

The most invasive sites

SurfShark found 143 trackers on the most invasive website, 92 of which are used for advertising purposes. Tracker counts also vary by category, with Men’s & Women’s Lifestyle websites having the most trackers (59) on average than other categories.

The most invasive sites are:

• theChive (143)
• Salon (139)
• NY Daily News (126)
• HGTV (121)
• Crooks and Liars (116)
• Barstool Sports (116)
• LADbible (114)
• Adweek (112)
• Refinery29 (111)
• USA TODAY (104)

How to stop sites from tracking you

If you don’t want websites or services to track you, there are ways to stop them. Here are some suggestions:

• Use a VPN to block your location. When you mask where you are from, in most cases you won’t be served ads that relate to your area. 
• Switch to a secure browser that has additional privacy features. Browsers like Brave have been developed to block sites from tracking you. 
• Restrict ad tracking in your browser, or block ads completely. In Google Chrome, click on the menu icon and tap Settings. Next, select Privacy & Security and click Cookies and Other Data. Then slide the toggle next to Send “Do Not Track” request with your browsing traffic to the right to enable it.

Here’s the good news. Websites with the least amount of trackers:

• Wikipedia (3)
• TikTok (3)
• Instagram (4)
• XVIDEOS (4)
• Netflix (5)
• Bandcamp (5)
• FB Messenger (5)
• XNXX (6)
• National Parks Service (6)
• GameForge (7)

By Charlie Fripp, Komando.com

Graph by inquisitek.com