FACEBOOK knows a lot more about you than you might think.
The nosy app keeps track of your location, interests and more in order to target you with adverts.
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Much of the data the U.S. tech behemoth stores about you is available to view in your profile settings.
A bit of digging around can unearth all sorts of unsettling things that Facebook knows.
Here are three pages that are worth taking a look at for anyone worried about the firm’s snooping.
There are also tips on how to limit the ways that Facebook tracks you.
It knows your whereabouts
Location History is a controversial daily log of where you’ve been logged by Facebook’s iOS and Android’s apps.
The data is stored on a digital map that can be viewed through your Facebook settings.
It shows what shops and other businesses Facebook believes you have visited, as well as periods where you’re thought to have been “on the move”.
You can search for specific dates to see what location data Facebook has logged on any given day.
The setting can be turned off through Facebook’s website and apps and you have the option to delete your Location History if you wish.
Among other things, Facebook uses your GPS coordinates to better tailor the ads that it shows you.
Location History is being wiped by Facebook as part of a privacy overhaul, but you can still view your history up until August 1, 2022.
- Open the Facebook app and tap the bottom right icon
- Tap Settings and privacy, then tap Settings.
- Below Your information, tap Access your information.
- Tap Logged information.
- Below Location, tap Location history. You may be asked to re-enter your password.
You can turn your Location history on or off by tapping the blue slider. You can also delete your history.
It knows your interests
Facebook reckons it knows you better than you do — and this is how you find out what it thinks of you.
Targeted ads are big business for the social media giant.
They rely on users like you to dish out your most private details, which are then used to find out what you might like to buy.
Marketers then pay for ads showing precisely tailored products that flash up on your feed as if by magic, fulfilling desires you didn’t even realise you had.
But there’s a simple way to disrupt this slightly creepy process — by following these simple steps.
- On a desktop browser, load up Facebook and click your profile picture in the top right of your display.
- Click Settings and Privacy and then Settings
- Hit Ads and then click Ad Topics
- You’ll see a page showing what Facebook thinks are your interests. Delete these and add more as you wish.
It knows what websites you visit
Cookies are delicious baked treats, but they’re also a computer file that’s becoming increasingly important to your life.
On the internet, they are small pieces of text used to store information on web browsers.
Facebook uses them to track your activity across the web – not just on Facebook or Facebook-owned services such as Instagram.
It helps the social media behemoth to tailor the ads you see on its platform based on your likes and interests.
That’s because cookies can store data on everything from your browsing history to the amount of time you spend on a website – and even the items in your shopping basket.
Facebook keeps a list of the websites it knows you’ve visited in a log of what it calls your “off-Facebook activity.”
- On a desktop browser, click your profile icon in the top right of Facebook.
- Select Settings and privacy, then click Settings.
- Click Privacy in the left menu.
- Click Your Facebook information on the left.
- Click Off-Facebook activity to review. From here, you can also click Recent activity for more information.
From this menu you can choose to wipe your activity history and stop Facebook from tracking you across specific websites.
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