IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#1

Post by astr0n0m3r » Thu, Apr 09, 2026, 9:16 PM UTC

I went to look up something on IMDb, and then I immediately got an email saying I registered for a new account. I probably did have amazon.com open in another browser tab, but I did not take any actions to created it. From what I can gather Amazon linked accounts are a new thing.

The normal steps to delete an account don't work with Amazon linked accounts, and they send you to amazon.com account settings, which of course, is impenetrable. The Amazon customer service human did not even know what IMDb was.

Just a warning. This is something different than a dark pattern or enshittification.

Re: IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#2

Post by IOT_Apprentice » Thu, Apr 09, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

It will be interesting for someone to track this activity and see what the trigger is for this to occur.

Re: IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#3

Post by apothegm » Thu, Apr 09, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

Iunno, counts as both dark pattern and a form of enshittification from where I’m sitting.

Re: IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#4

Post by k310 » Thu, Apr 09, 2026, 10:50 PM UTC

Makes me wonder about "Container Tabs" [0]

I saw this feature and never gave it much thought, but this post has me looking seriously at it.

> Firefox containers let you separate your browsing activities into color-coded tabs for banking, work and personal browsing. This allows you to always open new tabs in containers of your choosing for a more private browsing experience. Each container is isolated from the others, so you can access sites logged into different accounts. This article explains how to enable and use the Firefox containers manager to open containers from the main browser interface quickly.

[0] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-use-firefox-contain...

Re: IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#5

Post by cowboybaby » Wed, Apr 15, 2026, 3:46 AM UTC

this just happened to me! it used my google account but not even my primary google account, it used the second account i have on logged in on chrome.

Re: IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#6

Post by Chant-I-CRW » Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 2:14 PM UTC

Just happened to me. IMDb account was automatically created using the email alias I use for Amazon. I have Ghostery running which should block tracking cookies so I'm not sure how IMDb made the connection back to my Amazon account.

Reddit discussion going on about it where dozens of reports are coming in. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskTechnology/comments/1shdjtg/how_...

Re: IMDB created my account for merely visiting the site

#7

Post by aspbee555 » Tue, Apr 21, 2026, 2:24 AM UTC

this just happened to me and seriously pisses me off, I never wanted or asked for any account on some site I happened to visit that has absolutely nothing to do with my amazon account

I do not care if they own it now, this is absolutely BS and now I get randomly signed up for some random site I never signed up for?? WTF is this absolutely security nightmare they have created????