Do you know that Facebook is tracking all your online activities? Yes, the social media network is tracking all your activities over the web so as to serve you ads based on your search/browsing history, interests and preferences. So far the Facebook ads were shown only to Facebook users, but now, the Facebook Audience Network will be following you all over the web and collect all your information via cookies and serve up the targeted ads to you, on and off Facebook. The company has added this new setting for advertisers to extend their campaigns beyond Facebook.
Thankfully you can adjust the privacy settings on Facebook and stop the social giant to track your activities. We have seen how to opt out of and Stop Personalized ads in Windows and how to opt out and maintain your privacy when using Google Services, now let us see how to manage Facebook Ad Preferences & opt out of Ad Tracking.
Manage Facebook Ad Preferences
Go to your Facebook settings. Click on the small down arrow in the top right corner of your Facebook page and select Settings from the drop-down menu.
From the left panel, click on Adverts or Ads and adjust the settings. You can choose whether you want Facebook to serve you ads based on your interests or your use of apps and websites. The answers here are Yes by default.
If you want Facebook to serve you ads based on the websites and apps your use, change the Yes to No. Click on Edit written in front of ”
Click on Edit written in front of Adverts based on my use of websites and apps.
Select Off and click on Close.
By turning this Off, you can stop Facebook to serve you the internet-based advertisements. However, this many not stop the ads completely – but the ads won’t be of your interest. You may still see the ads based on the things you do on Facebook.
Opt out of Facebook Ad Tracking
Facebook Ads on apps and websites off the Facebook Companies
You can choose whether you want Facebook to serve you the ads based on the apps and websites you use off Facebook.
This is also set to Yes by default. Click on Edit and select NO and stop getting the ads off Facebook. Although, it won’t stop the ads completely, and you will still be served with the ads based on your age, gender or location. Also, your activities off Facebook will also be tracked and used to serve you the ads.
Facebook Ads with your social actions
Facebook keeps a record of whatever actions you take, for example, the pages you like or a post you share. This record is then used to serve you the ads. For example, if you like a recipe page, you will be served ads relevant to cooking and food. While this setting tab lets you choose who all on your Facebook profile can see your social actions, you can still not avoid the ads completely.
Facebook ads based your preferences
Facebook keeps a track of your preferences and serves you the ads accordingly. For example, if you have flowers in your preferences, you will get the ads from florists. There is also a record kept of the websites and apps you are using outside Facebook. You can however add or remove the preferences but that again would not free you from the ads completely. You just can click on Visit Adverts Preferences and edit the list.
“When you remove a preference, we’ll no longer show you adverts based on it. You may still see similar adverts based on your other preferences. Editing your preferences affects the relevance, not the amount of adverts you see”, says Facebook.
You can also adjust these settings from your iPhone or an Android device. You can select whether you want to allow Facebook and other companies to serve you the interest based ads or not.
For iPhone: Just go to your Phone Settings > Privacy > and Turn On Limit Ad Tracking.
For Android: Go to Google Settings -> Ads > click on ‘Opt out of interest-based ads‘ >OK.
Having done this, you may want to harden your Facebook Privacy Settings. It is also imperative that you take steps to secure your Facebook account.
See how you can delete your Amazon browsing history.