Social networks collect large amounts of information about their advertisers’ users, and it turns out you can access hidden lists that reveal exactly what some apps know about you.
According to the British newspaper The Daily Mail, to access the list on both Facebook and Instagram, where your personal information is hidden, you will need to go to Settings and Privacy in the app, then to the Account Center, then go to Account Settings, then Advertising Preferences, and then Advertising Topics, where you will see a short list of topics you are interested in, select View and Manage Topics, and you will see the full list.
If you have used Instagram and Facebook for a period of time, this list will be large, and with each entry on your list, you can simply click on it and decide if you want to see more or less advertising for the selected topics.
There is also a separate ‘Advertisement Settings’ menu where you can adjust the settings around the categories used to reach you.
Comparitech’s security and privacy advocate, Paul Bechov, revealed that Instagram and Threads, like most other social networks, collect data about you in three ways.
First, the information you willingly provide, such as the information you use to register for the account, your profile details and your posts.
Then there is data collected in the background as you use the Service, such as your IP address and location, what posts and features you interact with, when and for how long you use it, your language, and device details.
Social networks can obtain information from third parties, such as data brokers, public records, and cookie tracking, and these cookies can be used to track the websites you visit and interact with.
