Facebook is much more than the world’s largest social media platform — it is also the biggest spy on the hunt for your personal data as targeted ads are their main source of revenue. But hey, who doesn't know that privacy on Facebook is not a thing? And that, to some, it is a small price to pay for an endless pool of user-generated content? 

Here’s what many people don’t know, however: the media giant shows no intent on sticking to its owned platform. Yes, Facebook tracking your web activity is a thing! And by that, we mean off-facebook activity.

Issues with Facebook privacy

Facebook tracks your off-app activity by default. Their platform is designed around collecting your data. Yes, they will vaguely notify you about said fact in the user agreement, but you would have to be a lawyer with a lot of free time on your hands to sort through that mess. 

How Facebook tracks your web activity? Well, all apps and websites have your identifying information. It is used to display relevant content, maintain your favorite tabs, remember passwords and purchasing history, etc. 

Facebook is accessing said data from third-party apps using your identifying information. It’s really as simple as that for the guys behind the largest social media platform on the globe.

How can I keep my browsing private?

While the fact that Facebook collects as much data as possible by default is true, it doesn't mean that you, the user, don’t have a say in this. 

You can turn off-facebook activity tracking off within a handful of clicks. The trick is to know where to look. 

Simply log into your Facebook account and proceed to the Settings and Privacy tab. From there go to Settings and then to Your Facebook Information. You will see the Off-Facebook activity slider. Turn it off, and boom — you are done. Your browsing is now yours truly once again. 

You can also delete the data third-party sites shared with Facebook from the tab. This is definitely a plus. 

Sidenote

Now that we’ve made a stand for your privacy, the time has come to deal with pesky ads. Go to the Ad Preferences tab from the options in your desktop Facebook application and see which brands were targeting you based on the information they’ve “purchased” from Facebook. 

You can then hand-select a company and manually choose the Don’t Alow option. This way you will not see any advertisements from the said company in the future. Rinse and repeat and you'll have a much more clean and clear Facebook feed.

Spread the Word

It’s also best if you were to spread this information. Share the article with friends or simply guide them through the process. This way we’ll all have a much more secure and private browsing experience.

Alternatively, you can follow the same steps and delete your Facebook account. Given how the company treats us, the consumers, it is only the right thing to do. And it has been long overdue, if you ask me.