Published in News

Facebook will keep tracking you even when you tell it not to

by on19 December 2018


Uses your IP address

Even if you explicitly tell Facebook to not track your location, it will still use your IP address to track your location.

Gizmodo has found that even if you turn off all Facebook’s access to your location, doesn't "check-in" to places and doesn't list a current city on your profile you will still see location-based ads.

Facebook has admitted that there is no way for people to opt out of using location for ads entirely.

"We use city and zip level location which we collect from IP addresses and other information such as check-ins and current city from your profile to ensure we are providing people with a good service -- from ensuring they see Facebook in the right language, to making sure that they are shown nearby events and ads for businesses that are local to them", a spokesperson said.

Now while many of us suspected this, it flies in the face of what Facebook has previously said.

Strangely, back in 2014, Facebook told businesses in a blog post that “people have control over the recent location information they share with Facebook and will only see ads based on their recent location if location services are enabled on their phone”. That policy has changed and now Facebook is using the IP address.

Facebook feels IP address is a rough approximation of location that is forgivable to use. To avoid this, you could stop using the Facebook app on your phone - where IP addresses tend to be more precisely mappedm-or use a VPN when you log into Facebook. Or, of course, there’s always the option to quit Facebook altogether.

 

Last modified on 19 December 2018
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Read more about: