I think that's an unfair assessment. While this is the perfectly easy to access data we, hackernews savvys, are familiar with and isn't insight to the true analysis we know Google has internally. Don't dismiss this as something your average Guardian reader is aware of.
I'm sure many non-technical users will find the article very informative. "Clickbait" implies that the headline is controversial but the content is not. Clearly the content here is extremely controversial, especially if you had no idea that Google is literally tracking your every physical move. On the contrary, I found the article a pretty good list of the information Google and FB have and that's what the title implied. Not clickbait at all.
I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss it as clickbait. Do you really think non-tech people are aware of the amount of aggregated data these companies have on them?
As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, the article uses scare tactics that misrepresent what google is actually storing.
They are storing your emails, for instance, and your photos.
This isn't google tracking you any more than a storage unit company is stealing from you.
What percentage of users do you think fully understand that Google is literally tracking their every footstep? Yes, it's Google tracking you whether you realized it or not. Tracking is not and never has been "opt-in".
This (almost entire) article was originally a tweet thread by Dylan, so that's why it looks like clickbait.
I don't know about clickbait, but The Guardian, NYT and Bloomberg seem to be going very heavy on the Facebook stories. Is it because negative press sells or do they have a vested interest in seeing Facebook fail (as in they hope readership will surge)? Could be both, I guess.