Facebook stalks you – find out how
January 29, 2020
Mark said “the future is private”. But the past certainly isn’t, and nor is the future unless you take action.
We have all had that feeling that Facebook/Instagram/Messenger is “listening” to our chats and tracking our clicks. Finally, Facebook is letting us see what it tracks and how it stalks us with the release of the “Off-Facebook Activity” tracker.
You can view the last 180 days’ worth of data that Facebook has collected, and then manage the activity from businesses and organisations you visit off of Facebook, by doing the following:
- Log into Facebook
- Go to “Settings”
- Go to “Your Facebook Information”
- View “Off-Facebook Activity”
When I checked for myself, Facebook said “this is a summary of the 725 apps and websites that have shared your activity”. That is, these websites have sent information about my activity on THEIR sites TO Facebook, even when I didn’t have Facebook open. While I know it is impossible to interact online anonymously, it was still eye opening to see what Facebook knows.
One measure I have taken recently is to use DuckDuckGo for my browsing whenever possible. It is a small step, as was unfriending everyone on Facebook and unfollowing all businesses, but cumulatively my goal is to be tracked less.
If you want to know more about this, there are plenty of stories on the release of this function, so just Google it and then let Google also know what you are doing.
Real life is now like a reality TV show, where the cameras and microphones are always on.
