This year, the tide has turned against Facebook after a series of violations of user privacy and security as well as widespread misuse of its power as a social media platform shocked the world. While the social media platform has scrambled in an attempt to preserve its image and make itself feel like the feel good community center that it wants everyone to see it as, scandal after scandal continue to come out making it unlikely that Facebook will be able to save face in time.
The latest scandal that is rocking Facebook has to do with something that people take very seriously indeed: location tracking. Everyone knows that Facebook tracks your location to give it to brands so that they can send location specific advertisements to you. Pretty much every big internet company does this, it is a huge way to make money. That being said, you are generally expecting some level over control over your location data. Most people assume that if you turn off your location and clear all previous location history that Facebook would no longer be able to sell this data to brands and ad companies.
However, the fact of the matter is that you will still get location based ads even if you do all of these things. This means that Facebook is definitely using other means to figure out your location and is sending this data to advertisers in spite of the fact that you have clearly not consented to it. The bald faced manner in which Facebook is doing this is outrageous, and even though Facebook isn’t technically keeping it a secret it’s not being upfront either. The platform needs to start taking the initiative to show people that it is worthy of their trust if it wants people to keep using it.
Image: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The latest scandal that is rocking Facebook has to do with something that people take very seriously indeed: location tracking. Everyone knows that Facebook tracks your location to give it to brands so that they can send location specific advertisements to you. Pretty much every big internet company does this, it is a huge way to make money. That being said, you are generally expecting some level over control over your location data. Most people assume that if you turn off your location and clear all previous location history that Facebook would no longer be able to sell this data to brands and ad companies.
However, the fact of the matter is that you will still get location based ads even if you do all of these things. This means that Facebook is definitely using other means to figure out your location and is sending this data to advertisers in spite of the fact that you have clearly not consented to it. The bald faced manner in which Facebook is doing this is outrageous, and even though Facebook isn’t technically keeping it a secret it’s not being upfront either. The platform needs to start taking the initiative to show people that it is worthy of their trust if it wants people to keep using it.
Image: ASSOCIATED PRESS
