How did the New York Times target me for very specific ads despite my precautions?

TLDR: I was served an ad in the NYT app that was related to a search I did online using what I thought was secure browsing. How did they do that?

Setup: MacOS with Brave Browser, "shields up". I have a V\*N but it was not active during this time. iOS with standard NYT app.

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Steps:

1. Using Brave, I went to [Hertz.com](https://Hertz.com) to rent a car. I was interested in one of the options, so I searched for …

ads app brave brave browser browser browsing macos new york new york times privacy search secure browsing shields up target the new york times thought tldr york