What to do if Facebook freaks you out – The Wall Street Journal

DUBLIN – If you've been following the news about Facebook for the last few years, you're probably at least a little bit concerned about how the company deals with your data. While you can't control fully how the social network tracks and monitors you, there are some steps you can take to reduce your Facebook footprint. Beyond the suggestions below, the best thing you can do is avoid logging into third party platforms using your Facebook credentials and avoid liking pages using the Facebook button when browsing non-Facebook sites. And perhaps the very best thing you can do is log out and stop visiting it. That's what I did a month ago, and I can sincerely say that I do not miss it at all. – Felicity Duncan.If You're Creeped Out by Facebook, Here Are the Settings to Check.By Katherine Bindley.(The Wall Street Journal) Facebook still feels pretty creepy at times. You'll be talking about something, then an ad for that thing will pop up in your news feed or on Instagram. It might be all in our heads. After telling a friend how dusty my apartment was a few weeks ago, I got an ad for an air purifier. What's the most likely explanation? I noticed the ad because I was complaining about dust? Or Facebook has bugged my apartment?.___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Still, when I wrote about my experiences being hyper-targeted by the social media company after limiting ad tracking, many people shared their own eerie coincidences. Others said they'd tried everything—going so far as to contact the company—and still saw ads that were reminders of painful life experiences..Even when you try to keep up with all the settings (which I'll help you with below), the settings themselves keep changing. Just this past weekend, we learned from a Facebook user named Jeremy Burge that our phone numbers were still used as a way to look us up, even though Facebook turned off one way to do that last April. Frustratingly, the default privacy setting for our phone numbers is "everyone." That is, "Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?" "Anyone on or off Facebook.".Facebook Inc. continues to surprise us with how it's using our information and we're owed clearer explanations and more ways to opt out. While we wait, there are settings to mitigate the spying. Just remember, there's no way to get the company to stop completely..All About Ad Preferences.If you link your Facebook and Instagram accounts, you can manage preferences for boththrough Facebook. If you're only on Instagram, your options are more limited: All you can do is hide individual ads and select reasons for doing so..Pull out your phone, launch Facebook and follow along. First, tap the three horizontal lines at the bottom of the app, then Settings & Privacy > Settings. Scroll down to the Ads section and tap its one option, Ad Preferences..At the top, you'll see Your interests, which handles ads related to ads you previously clicked. Tap on the three vertical dots to remove any interest you'd rather not see..Your information manages whether Facebook can show you ads based on certain profile fields, such as your job title or relationship status. Beneath that, you can review other categories Facebook might use. None of mine were especially revelatory (I'm a Wi-Fi user!) but you should check yours..To opt out of seeing ads influenced by data from Facebook's Pixel (a tracker installed on tons of websites) and its SDK tracker for apps, go into Ad settings. Selecting "Not allowed" is also supposed to stop Facebook from showing you ads based on certain offline behaviors, like when you've phoned a call center for customer service, or bought something from a store..There's also an option to hide ads, influenced by your activity on Facebook products, that you see elsewhere, such as on websites or apps that use Facebook's ad service..Facebook will warn you that choosing "not allowed" might mean seeing less relevant ads. In my experience, they're still plenty relevant. They'll be based on what you look at and tap on Facebook and Instagram, and on customer lists that have your info (which you can also adjust—I'll get to that)..If you're bothered by seeing ads tied to subjects like parenting or alcohol, for example, visit the section called Hide ad topics. You can choose how long to hide a given topic (six months, a year or permanently). Facebook says you might still see ads "related to these topics but that it'll use your input to improve the ads you see.".Finally, check up on Advertisers, where you'll see the list of "advertisers who uploaded a contact list with your info." It might be super long—mine has more than 1,700 brands, most I've never heard of—so set aside time to go through and X out any you don't want to hear from. You'll have to check back and play Whac-A-Mole, since new advertisers will continue to upload customer lists with your name on it..Your Phone Number.Facebook said last April it disabled its search-by-phone-number tool. While useful in some ways, "malicious actors have also abused these features," the company said. It's true that you can no longer type a phone number into the Facebook search box and see whose name pops up. But your phone number can still be used to find you.."Today, the 'Who can look me up?' settings control how your phone number or email address can be used to look you up in other ways, such as when someone uploads your contact info to Facebook from their mobile phone," a Facebook spokeswoman said. Another example: Users can search by phone number in the Messenger app. An "off Facebook" use would be logged-out users sharing their phone numbers to recover their accounts, she said. The spokeswoman didn't provide a complete list of scenarios..To tighten this up, visit Settings > Privacy Settings > "Who can look you up using the phone number you provided?" The most private option is "Friends.".If you gave Facebook your number for two-factor authentication, you can remove your number and still keep the security measure, though you'll need an authentication app like Google Authenticator. Do this by going into Settings > Security and Login. Select the authentication-app option for two-factor, then follow the instructions. You'll have to remove your phone number manually, on the personal information setting page..While you're at it, make sure you're not syncing your contacts. Under Settings, scroll all the way down to "Upload contacts" to check..iPhone and Android Controls.Some settings that impact the platform's ad targeting are managed from your device. In iOS, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services to stop sending Facebook and Instagram your exact location. (Remember, they'll still have a good guess of where you are and will still target ads at you geographically.).For Android, go into Settings, find the Apps section, tap Permissions then toggle Location to off..You can also "limit ad tracking" in iOS by going to Settings > Privacy > Advertising. This makes your mobile advertising ID unavailable to developers..For Android devices, go to Settings > Google > Ads. You'll see a toggle for "Opt out of Ads Personalization.".Of course, you can take all the steps and turn off everything and sometimes you'll still feel like Facebook is eavesdropping.

What to do if Facebook freaks you out – The Wall Street Journal

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