Control the ads you see on Facebook with “Ad Preferences”
Last week, we wrote about “How to download all your Google data in a single click” with the help of Google Takeout. Today, we’ve something more interesting to share, which is nothing new, but something’s that’s hidden in the most famous app that everyone uses on a daily basis.
We know Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp (at least, you know that now). Consistent privacy concerns, testifying at the congress, the trust issues, and dominance, has irritated Facebook to it’s maximum. Even though they still make $80B in profit, their system is getting more privacy-friendly (not private).
According to the European Union, GDPR is mandatory to perform internet-based activities in European countries, so Google and Facebook were forced to showcase some information they hold about their users.
Well, you can always see it, but they don’t advertise it like their other products. Barely a few people even know that Google takeout feature and Facebook Ad Preferences exist.
Ad Preferences
Based on your activity on Facebook, they collect data about you and mix it with your personal information to show ads. Let’s say you’re a 40-year-old small business owner looking for digital marketing services, Facebook shows a particular ad to you that makes sense because they know you’ve shown interest in “small business, you’re 40 years old and few other factors”.
The good thing is that you can see those categories you fall into over here at Facebook Ad Preferences. You can easily remove you from ad categories that you don’t want to fall into. Also, you get to see various other parameters they use to show ads.
You can even control how a particular brand is showcasing ads to you. You can allow or disallow them to continue their practice by showing disturbing ads to you.
It feels great to see such controls on Facebook which definitely gives users the complete right to see and modify what they own (their personal information). We also might see Facebook coming up with a paid plan to avoid using data, but that’s not for everyone.
Don’t wait, go straight to the ad preferences, and control what you see. This is freedom!
