There’s almost nothing you do online that isn’t noted by somebody. Facebook records everything you do. It knows what your status updates are, whose profiles you visit, and what photos you upload. It also knows what status updates and comments you start typing, but end up deleting. It may track your cursor movements, knowing when you hover over an ad or “submit” button but don’t actually click and it also able to track your location. Facebook keeps note of what you do across the rest of the web.
If you don’t want Facebook tracking you across all of your Internet browsing, here’s what to do: Click the X in the right-hand corner of an ad on your Facebook page. Then, click “Why am I seeing this ad?” and “Opt out of ads based on websites and apps off Facebook.” There, you’re taken to a website called Criteo, where you can opt out of personalized ads on Facebook and across the web. On the “Why am I seeing this ad?” page, you can also click to manage your ad preferences and see what topics Facebook thinks you’re interested in.
Of course, Facebook is not alone in its quest to capitalize on your web-browsing habits. Google tracks what websites you visit, what videos you watch, and what you search for. And Uber, which now tracks your location information, also sells that information to third parties. It’s important to remember that your data is constantly being tracked and monetized. If you’re not paying for a service, what you’re doing on that service is what’s making that company money. You may be using the internet, but the internet is also using you……
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