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Facebook Lets Users Opt Out of Targeted Ads

Posted by timothy on from the all-twinkies-and-trucks-for-me dept.

mpicpp (3454017) writes Facebook users who are annoyed by the targeted ads that pop up in their News Feed will soon have more control over what they see. Like Google, Facebook collects all kinds of information on its users and uses that information to serve up targeted ads. For some people, especially privacy advocates, it seemed a little creepy to have a social network tracking a user's activity and then using that data to sell them stuff. On Thursday, Facebook announced that users will soon be able to opt out of that targeted ad system through controls in their Web browser and iOS and Android phones. Facebook will also show users what information they have collected about them and let them edit the kinds of ads they want to see. If someone is confused about why they are seeing an ad for P.F. Chang's, for example, they can simply click on "Why am I seeing this ad?"

1 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. ad-block by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I'd like to see website replace all adverts blocked by adblock with large flashing text saying "Hey, it costs us money to provide this service. The least you could do it let us show you some ads"

    Unless you're on websites that decent advertising companies wont support (porn/pirating/etc) then i generally find ads to be - static, silent and not in the way.

    There is absolutely NO REASON to use adblock on facebook. Their ads do not get in the way at all.
    What's worse is when people operate a white list for website over a black list. Imagine you're doing some research for something, I dunno your computer isn't computering correctly. So off you go to google, you type in your problem and a forum pops up with your exact answer. OK done. But because you operate a white list that site, which you used and probably wont ever visit again and therefore wont be on your whitelist, didn't get a chance to show you any ads when you loaded the page. You probably wont visit again and chances are that site gets most of its hits from people "just passing through"

    TLDR: People who use adblocks are dicks. There are companies offering you stuff "for free" you literally don't have to pay a thing. Yet you still insist on not giving back to the despite the fact it doesn't effect you in anyway.