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Most Facebook Users Don't Know That it Records a List of Their Interests, New Study Finds (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Seventy-four percent of Facebook users are unaware that Facebook records a list of their interests for ad-targeting purposes, according to a new study from the Pew Institute. From a report: Participants in the study were first pointed to Facebook's ad preferences page, which lists out a person's interests. Nearly 60 percent of participants admitted that Facebook's lists of interests were very or somewhat accurate to their actual interests, and 51 percent said they were uncomfortable with Facebook creating the list.

56 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Facebook knows my sexy secrets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They know I am a man that likes women! I have heard that is incredibly unpopular these days.

    1. Re:Facebook knows my sexy secrets by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      Or just mention "toxic masculinity" anywhere near your phone and watch the Gillette ad come up in your feed 100x a day for the next 60 days.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    2. Re:Facebook knows my sexy secrets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Go watch the Gillette ad :((

      I guess this new movement, won't be happy till we're all soy boys, and let's all forget about the aggressive behaviors that got us to this point in the world we're at to date.

      Nope.....I guess its just time to be open about it and have them mandate estrogen injections to all men, and let's just get rid of us as a species for the most part.

      But women that are for this, be careful...there's already lots of women out there that can't find a man to marry that they want to stay with, as that they aren't acting like "men" anymore.

      As for that ad..they couldn't pay me to use a fucking gillette product again.

      Huh. Could have sworn I clicked the link for slashdot.org, not jockstrap.com. Or have we finally stockholmed ourselves into worshipping the chads because we're too beta to be proud nerds without resorting to any of this virtue signaling bulldrek about what manly men we are?

    3. Re:Facebook knows my sexy secrets by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Or we could admit that these hyper agressive men are not the normal and we shouldn't tolerate frat boy behavior in a modern society.

    4. Re:Facebook knows my sexy secrets by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Or we could admit that these hyper agressive men are not the normal and we shouldn't tolerate frat boy behavior in a modern society.

      The trouble is....the definition they're trying to use today of what a "hyper aggressive" is today.

      It seems that a man acting any more 'aggressive' at all than a demur woman is now accused of being hyper aggressive.

      YOu've moved the goalpost too far on us.

      Asking a girl out a second time after an initial rejection is not the same as him grabbing her by the hair, pulling her into an alley and raping and killing her.

      However, today, it seems they are trying to define hyper aggression as levels of actions at or below asking a woman out twice.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    5. Re:Facebook knows my sexy secrets by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      Did you see the Gillette commercial? Stopping bullying is not demasculating. Treating women with respect is not demasculating. Acting in a civilized manner should not be a rarity. None of the men shown acting badly in the ad would have been considered good role models, and all the commercial was doing was trying to raise the bar in behavior by showing different role models.

      I think what happened is that some people saw the Gillette commercial and were triggered by it.

    6. Re: Facebook knows my sexy secrets by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      Actually they _are_ normal. Everyone knows that. No one is fooled anymore when corporate progressive nazis abuse their monopoly power over mass media to (try to) redefine well known words.

      But hey, keep on believing that toxic propaganda. Redouble your screams for more corporate big brother, more violent intolerance, more police state, more gulag in your vain effort to reshape humanity after the image of Victorian bourgeois spinsters.

      Your efforts will fail. Death cults always do. The only question is how much human suffering and misery your policies will cause before the people (or the Chinese army) finally put a stop to the insanity.

  2. Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by david.emery · · Score: 2

    This link should take you to your Ad Preferences. Be sure to click on both "Interests" and "Advertisers" - and check the sub-tabs.

    The shit that shows up there is bizarre. Today FB decided one of my interests was "brake shoes". And in the Advertisers section, I see a significant (literally hundreds) of non-local real estate agents and car dealers. Not sure why I'd be interested in either a car dealer or a realtor several thousand miles from where I actually live. But then, FB decided a couple months ago I live near Fargo ND. (If they really had their shit together, it would be obvious which county I live in NH, given some of the groups I subscribe to.)

    1. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by david.emery · · Score: 2

      Sorry, here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/ads/p...

    2. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Holi · · Score: 1

      Thanks, I just checked it out, and thankfully Facebook doesn't know shit about me. The things listed in my interest section have nothing to do with my actual interests.

      I guess my campaign of misinformation has been entirely effective.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    3. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Friend, here's what's more likely than not to happen when you do that: it'll appear to clear them out, so far as the user-facing page shows, but Facebook won't 'throw away' that data, they'll just keep it in secret, where the user can't see it anymore. Remember: Facebook does not throw any data away, ever, because it's all salable merchandise. The only way to possibly win this game is to not play in the first place (i.e. never have a Facebook account to start with). You can delete you Facebook account and never go back and 10 years from now their data will be so stale that it'll be irrelevant anymore, but they'll never delete it.

    4. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 2

      And how would this work for non-users? Presumably FB is building profiles on those too, you know. Subscribe to FB just to 'get some say' in how FB processes what it has on you?

      Btw - ridiculous that this is a reasonable question in the first place. Imho CEO's should be taken out into the streets and shot, for collecting data about non-subscribers the way & on the scale FB does it.

    5. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2

      Actually, you need to trick it, to flush the cache.

      Edit your Interests, Change them or delete them.

      Edit your Bio data. Change it or delete them.

      Then use the /ads/preferences AFTER A COUPLE OF DAYS

      If you want to fool it, alter them to things that don't help them.

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    6. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      The disinformation campaign
      That might work assuming they don't have some algorithms that detect things like that and toss out the false data in their private cache.

    7. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      NoScript

      Check.

    8. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I don't see anything for me. I disabled the option to target ads based on data from partners and such. The "Your interests" section just wants me to select things I am interested to see ads for (hah!). The "Advertisers" shows a list of auto dealers that are more than 1000 miles from me, and the other two tabs there are empty.

      I have known for a couple decades that at least one person gives out my email address as a spam blocker, in that I get the spam instead of him. So I get regular reminders to bring in my truck for service even though I don't live in that town or own a truck.

    9. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by larryjoe · · Score: 1

      The only way to possibly win this game is to not play in the first place

      Just like global thermonuclear warfare.

    10. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      Which is why you do it over time

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    11. Re:Clean out your FB Ad Preferences by Teun · · Score: 1

      Indeed.
      Worse is they keep track of people not subscribed but who's names cropped up in the address books a lot of idiots shared with Facebook.

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  3. Dear f=Facebook.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm interested in kicking little puppies, reminding orphans that they have no parents, and sneaking around sports bars with a TV-B-Gone switching off sets just as a major play is about to complete (everyone needs some danger in their lives)

      Signed,
              I. P. Freelie

    1. Re:Dear f=Facebook.... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      At which point you will start getting advertisements for Milo and Ben's roadshow of traveling white male conservative homosexual outrage

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  4. Most people are easily conned. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    Film at 11. -_-

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Most people are easily conned. by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 3, Funny

      Seriously? There’s going to be film at 11?!? Awesome, let me get the popcorn and...

      ...hey, wait a minute...

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
    2. Re:Most people are easily conned. by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      I see that you like movies and are away from your house late at night ... =P

    3. Re:Most people are easily conned. by Capsaicin · · Score: 1

      Yeah sure, but 74% of users don't realise their interests are tracked? I can believe 74% didn't know how to access that particular page, but seriously ...

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
  5. Rather low accuracy... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1

    I remember Facebook ad preferences thinking that I was of African-American ancestry even though I wasn't (to my knowledge, anyway).

    1. Re:Rather low accuracy... by hey! · · Score: 2

      This is known as a false positive. It doesn't really matter because what advertisers are interested in is the achievable true positive rate. When a Mormon sees a superbowl ad for beer, sure that's a wasted impression, but it doesn't matter as long as they reach the beer drinkers.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Rather low accuracy... by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      It's really incredible that a company who people literally hand all their life details to still can't make a somewhat accurate interests profile for more than 60%. One could probably get 50% to call it somewhat accurate by randomly assigning popular interests horoscope-style.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    3. Re:Rather low accuracy... by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      I remember Facebook ad preferences thinking that I was of African-American ancestry even though I wasn't (to my knowledge, anyway).

      Hmm..so, do you listen to and visit a lot of rap sites or something?

      Would be interesting to hear what african behaviors and such you think you might have that had them think of you as one?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  6. Well.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They all did sign themelves over to a heartless multi-national corporation who's goal is to make money in all ways possible. Do I feel sorry for them? NO. If they aren't aware at this point of what Facebook is really all about, then they are just hopelessly clueless.

      That's OK. Resume posting those pictures that you ruin with stupid pseudo-anime cat face filters and challenging each other to IRL fights.

  7. The more we find out about Facebook... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3

    ... the worse Facebook looks.

    1. Re:The more we find out about Facebook... by chispito · · Score: 1

      ... the worse Facebook looks.

      The more you find out?

      So you admit you were not among the 49% that understand what ad-supported means?

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    2. Re:The more we find out about Facebook... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      ... the more I find out about Facebook, the more I just simply say "told you so". ...

      I've been skeptical about facebook for years now. I've tried warning my friends, especially those who seem to live in facebook, about the perils. I was all but ignored. (btw, in my comment, when I said "we" it was more of "the general public" "we" than anything else.)

    3. Re: The more we find out about Facebook... by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      Once upon a time advertising was an entirely separate business from snooping, stalking, and compiling secret dossiers.

      Most people assume Faceboot makes its money by showing advertisements. Which just doesn't match its observed behavior at all. A small but growing set of people now suspect that most of Faceboot's revenue comes from selling mass surveillance data to Uncle Sam and other repressive governments.

  8. How to know what they have by WaitingForSupport · · Score: 2

    You can actually download a file of all of the things that facebook has on you(messages, voice messages, videos, pictures, personal details..etc). It was quite a shocking discovery for me after I downloaded it. You can find it by going to settings - your facebook information - download your information. And then you can check what types of info you want. It takes some time for them to compile it all, but that's pretty creepy.

    1. Re:How to know what they have by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      And how are non Farcebook users supposed to download their shadow account info.?

  9. Baby gonna cry now ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And just what precisely did these sub-morons think was going to happen?

    Clearly the "shallow end of the gene pool" is considerably shallower and quite a bit larger than previously imagined ...

  10. i'm aware. and it's wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's downright hilarious that all these tech companies have "all this data" and "all this technology" like "AI" or whatever else. Yet their algorithms are absolute fucking garbage.

  11. Attention span by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

    Most Facebook users have the attention span of a ferret on bad biker meth, can't be bothered to read (let alone understand) EULAs and Privacy Agreements, and likely doesn't even know what the 'Ad Preferences' page is let alone what's on it. Facebook depends on this ignorance to preserve their salable data stream.

  12. So? It's not automatically a bad thing. by The+Snazster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most people's interests aren't really a secret (except for the ones they might want to hide, and those shouldn't be on FaceBook). People need to stop seeing everything as an opportunity to rant.

    Regardless of what things FaceBook may be guilty of, not everything in FB, or in life is out to take advantage of us in some sort of zero-sum game. There are win-win situations being sought as well. I've received ads for books on several occasions that were targeted at me based on other books I had liked. I've found some good ones that way and I'd rather see ads for those than for cookbooks or Harlequin romances.

    When I advertised my own books, written for a niche genre, I knew what books had inspired me most, and that people that had enjoyed them were the most likely to enjoy mine. With FB I was able to direct my ads to those people. I got a good response for the money I spent, and got several good reviews (without any negative ones). It seems to me those people were happy they had learned of my books and were pleased with their purchases.

    What would be served for anyone in my paying far more just to blindly send a lot more ads to people who wouldn't be the least bit interested? That's not a win for them or for me.

    1. Re:So? It's not automatically a bad thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem is opt-in vs. opt-out. All data collection should require explicit opt-in, should preclude sharing with other entities, and should include the right to delete the info already collected.

      Informed consent, and the right to revoke consent.

  13. Sign in to Instagram... by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2

    Sign in so we can show you ads better targeted at You!

    No shit, Facebook thinks people care about that. Extremely curious when the whipper-snappers will wake up and just talk to their friends.

  14. You should tailor it instead by Quince+alPillan · · Score: 2

    I regularly visit my ad preferences to remove and even add things that make sense. This way, I get advertisements for things that I actually want, like new book releases, offers from cloud computing companies, and sales on education classes.

    Sure, they're 'advertisements' from those companies, but if I'm going to see ads, I'd rather see ads for things that actually interest me and keep me informed about new products that I can research more information about later.

    1. Re:You should tailor it instead by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      I regularly visit my ad preferences to remove and even add things that make sense. This way, I get advertisements for things that I actually want

      Bravo to you, but I already know what I want.

      I also don't need to be told what I want or that I should want some product or other. In fact, hectoring me to buy something generally causes me not to want whatever it is. But that's just me.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    2. Re:You should tailor it instead by Quince+alPillan · · Score: 1

      Serious question: How do you find out about new products that are relevant to your interests?

      I regularly browse the web with my adblocker turned on. The TV I watch doesn't have advertisements (i.e. binging shows on Netflix) or is completely irrelevant (i.e. my kids' shows that advertise the latest crap toy or game). I will occasionally see something on social media that my friends share, but honestly, they don't have a lot of the same interests that I do.

      The only way that I can really find out about new products passively is if I control the Facebook ad stream to provide products relevant to me. Because I can control that ad stream, the products are relevant, and not random crap from Wish or Taboola.

    3. Re:You should tailor it instead by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Serious question: How do you find out about new products that are relevant to your interests?

      First of all, I have nearly everything I need and want, so I'm not terrorized by the urge to constantly buy stuff. I don't have the urge to look for things I don't have and then buy them.

      The new things I do find out about? They may show up on Amazon or in a magazine or are mentioned to me by a friend. Sometimes I may hear about them on a radio station. Or maybe the "buzz" around them becomes so great that it's impossible to avoid hearing about it.

      But really, the bottom line is that I'm not looking for new stuff to buy. Some people just can't comprehend that. Not all of us are desperate to find new shit to purchase. I'm one of them.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  15. People who still use Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I would argue that people who still use Facebook don't know much at all...about anything.

  16. Most FB users know nothing much, period by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    The headline is not suggesting otherwise, is it?

  17. An ad company by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    is going to do ads and needs your profile to do ads.
    Social media is free as you are the product getting sold and used.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  18. FBP by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    A simple browser extension called "FB Purity" will make it so you never see another ad on Facebook. So I don't really care that Facebook knows that I like 1930's gypsy jazz and 1970s auteur films, because any ad they target me with is gonna be vaporized long before I see it, so fuck them. And it does a lot more than that to make Facebook more useful, too.

    Seriously, try this extension.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:FBP by DogDude · · Score: 1

      You don't care that they sell all of your data to everybody else, too? Just because you don't see ads on Facebook, doesn't mean that your data isn't still sold to anybody else who's willing to pay, as well.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:FBP by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      You don't care that they sell all of your data to everybody else, too?

      I can understand why a lot of people would object to it, but at this point in my life, no, I don't really care very much. Maybe a little bit. I would however be more than happy to pay for a service like Facebook that did not collect my data.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:FBP by Teun · · Score: 1

      In other words, you are still feeding the monster they are.

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    4. Re: FBP by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      You must be the reason for the saying "stupid as a Slashdot namefag".

      I was smart enough to be able to figure out how to make a Slashdot account, though.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re:FBP by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      In other words, you are still feeding the monster they are.

      I prefer to see it as us coming to an understanding.

      Plus, FPB allows me to destroy and/or salt those lists of "interests". So they're not collecting anything of value from me. I have found a technological solution to a technological problem.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  19. Translation by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

    "Most Facebook Users Don't Know That it Records a List of Their Interests, New Study Finds "

    TRANSLATION:

    "Most Facebook Users Are Clueless Morons, New Study Finds "

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...