Facebook is listening to your conversations but not in the way you think
A new privacy tool provides insight into how your data is shared with Facebook. More than 400 apps and sites track my data.
My mobile phone or device is listening to me is a common misconception of modern life.
It’s an assertion that’s grown louder with the rise of virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Home.
In the last week I’ve been served ads on Facebook about places to visit after a discussion about a day out.
A phone call about what to have for dinner at the weekend resulted in ads for freshly prepared meals on Instagram.
The long running conversation about the broken light in the garage has led to ads following me around the web for new light fittings. They’ve continued long after I’ve bought a replacement but that’s another story.
If Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Google is selling ads against phrases or words that we say out loud I’ve yet to find the option in advertising planning tools.
Facebook is listening to a different type of conversation
What I do know is that platforms are able to target us with a high level of granularity thanks to the data that we scatter around the web.
Every post, comment and like on Facebook informs the ads that we are served. But that’s only a fraction of the data that the platform holds on me.
Thanks to the Off-Facebook Activity tool that rolled out worldwide in January 2020, I know that more than 400 apps and websites have shared my data with the platform in the past 180 days.
Follow the link and select Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity to see which third party apps and websites that you use are sending data back to the social network.
The privacy tool is a bid by Facebook to provide users with greater transparency about the data it collects and how ads are targeted. I consider myself a sophisticated user of the internet and savvy to how ad tech collects and uses data. How naïve I have been.
The datapoints that Facebook collects from third party apps and web sites include opening an app or website, searching for an item, adding an item to a wish list, adding an item to a cart, and making a purchase or donation.
Managing third-party data sharing with Facebook
You can use the Off-Facebook Activity tool to check out which apps and website share your data with Facebook. You can also use the tool to delete your third-party history and limit future data sharing. There are options to block individual apps and websites or stop third-party data sharing entirely.
The Electronic Future Foundation, a non-profit organisation that defends internet civil liberties, recommends blocking third-party data sharing with Facebook. It has posted guidance on its website.
“We still need stronger data privacy laws [but] this tool is a good step toward greater transparency and user control regarding third-party tracking. We hope other companies follow suit, and we encourage users to take advantage of it,” said Gennie Gebhart, Associate Director of Research, EFF.
Among the services that I use that most frequently share data with Facebook are my credit card; apps including Eventbrite and Nez; social media such as LinkedIn; tools including MailChip and Vuelio; and media such as The Drum and The Guardian.
Gabrielle Laine Peters is a social media consultant who advises companies on the best way to use social media for business. She’s worked with NASA, the UK government and various news agencies. Gabrielle reckons that Facebook users are unaware of the data that the social media platform tracks.
“Trying to raise awareness of this issue is frustrating. When I used the Off-Facebook Activity tool to check my profile only 14 apps/sites came up. Most people just hit accept when a box pops up because their focus is access to the information on the screen immediately.”
Dom Burch also has a cautionary tale. He’s the marketing director of Syke, one of the fastest growing legal technology consultancies in the world.
“I've previously removed the app from my phone to temper my own behaviour and save battery, but am still logged in via a browser. I had given permission to 495 apps to monitor me via Facebook. I've now deleted history and prevented future off-Facebook activity.”
Each third party interaction provides Facebook with data to target us with ads in addition to information that we share directly with the platform. It’s no wonder that we’ve convinced ourselves that services are listening to us. Facebook is listening but just not in the way that we think.
