I’m a tech expert… here’s the hidden menu that tells you what Facebook and Instagram really know about you
A TECH expert has revealed how to access the hidden menu which lets you see what Facebook and Instagram really knows about you.
To find out what Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and the new social media app Threads, knows about you, simply open Instagram.
Then go to Setting and Privacy in the app, then into the Accounts Centre where you can view your profiles on both Facebook and Instagram.
Then click on Account Settings and then into Ad Preferences, followed by Ad Topics.
There you can see a short list of topics that you are interested in.
If you then select View and Manage Topics, the full list will appear.
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Anyone who has used Facebook and Instagram for some time will probably have a pretty long and wide-ranging list, covering all sorts of topics.
If you click on an entry, you can then say whether you want to see more or fewer ads like this.
As well, there is also a separate Ad Settings menu where you can adjust settings about which categories are used to reach you – although you may need to use your Facebook password to adjust some of these.
In 2022, Meta had a revenue of £89.08billion ($116.61bn) which was mostly done through selling adverts on its social media platforms.
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Paul Bischoff, a security and privacy advocate at Comparitech told : “Instagram and Threads, like most other social networks, collect data about you in three ways.
“First is the information you willingly provide, such as the info you use to sign up to the account, your profile details, and your posts.
“Then there's data collected in the background as you use a service, such as your IP address and location, what posts and features you interact with, when and how long you use it, your language, and your device details.
“Lastly, social networks can obtain information from third parties, such as data brokers and public records, and tracking cookies. When you use Facebook or Instagram, they place a tracking cookie on your device.
He added that those cookies can then be used to track the websites you visit and interact with.
Similarly, if there is a Facebook Like or share button on a third-party website then they can be used to track you on behalf of Facebook.
They will be able to note the advertising ID in the tracking cookie and so log your visit with Facebook.
That information from various sites can then be combined to create a profile about the user.
Those profiles don’t contain information, such as your name or contact details, that can directly identify you, but instead assign you a unique advertising ID.
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While the information doesn’t have identifying details, the information it does have can be so specific it only pertains to a single user, Mr Bischoff explained.
Third party advertisers can then target all of the profiles for users in a certain location or are interested in a particular topic.
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