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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?"

4 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. But they're still collecting your data. by ITEM-3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So really, nothing's changed.

    1. Re:But they're still collecting your data. by bhcompy · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, things have changed. As part of this announcement they also announced that they will be digging through your browser history in order to provide more targeted ads, rather than just mining what you do through their website and websites that track for them

  2. you can do one better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Better solution: don't opt out of the targeted ads. Opt out of Facebook entirely.

    The business model of harvesting personal data for profit succeeds only with the cooperation of the public. Stop cooperating, and it'll stop working.

  3. Fake your data by Zed+Pobre · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I discovered that if you fake your birthplace, workplace, and university to a country which doesn't primarily use Roman lettering, you get an advertisement bar mostly consisting of completely unintelligible script. It's almost as good as an ad-blocker.

    If I ever get free time, I may go back and poke more at that script I started which takes random public Facebook and Twitter posts, feeds them into dadadodo, and then posts them as hidden to everyone except a list that only has fake alternate Facebook accounts in it.

    We can't stop them from gathering data, but we can chaff it so badly that it's worthless.