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PSA: Check your Facebook account advertisers section


Arcadia
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1 hour ago, PrincessMommy said:

I use FB Purity and I don't get advertisements on FB.  

 

I just tried but FB purity isn’t available for use on iphone and that’s where I view FB.  Any suggestions for something similar that will work on iphone?

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35 minutes ago, Plum said:

I know! I run a pretty tight ship with my FB settings and I had at least 75 auto advertisers in that list. I have one friend that works for an auto company and two that have something to do with auto mechanics. It either has something to do with them or because we bought a used car last year from a dealership.  

 

I don't have a drivers license (mine is a non-drivers RealID card) and my husband who bought our only car in 2006 does not have a Facebook account.  My friends in other countries are seeing similar US advertisers for auto and realtors.

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This news might explain all the realtors in my Facebook account advertisers section.

From MarketWatch https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-sets-its-sights-on-housing-should-zillow-be-worried-2019-04-03

“But there was a nugget of far greater interest to members of a certain industry in another point. “We’re building a tool so you can search for and view all current housing ads in the U.S. targeted to different places across the country, regardless of whether the ads are shown to you,” said Facebook FB+1.89%

“Uh, you mean, a massive consumer real estate portal like Zillow?” wrote Julian Hebron and Spencer White, two housing finance tech professionals who consult and blog under the name The Basis Point.

No, not quite like Zillow ZG+3.71% Z+3.59%   . 

Facebook intends to build a platform that aggregates advertisements for housing products and services, a spokesperson confirmed. That could be homes for sale, or it could be new developments, or even a lottery for an affordable housing opportunity.”

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That's so strange. I have so many and most are for realtors or car dealers. I don't plan to buy another house EVER and I don't plan to buy a car until we have to drag one of ours to the scrapyard.

ETA: Do you think FB is making money from every one of those advertisers even if we never see their ads on our page? It's buried in our settings , so most people aren't going to even know they can remove them.

Edited by mom2scouts
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I don’t understand the post.  What does it mean they used a contact list?  Does it mean that somewhere my name is on some sort of list?

What does it matter if these particular advertisers are on my FB page?  If it’s not them, it’ll be someone else, right?  

I’m not being snarky, I just honestly don’t understand what the post means to me or what I’m supposed to do about it and if I need to be concerned.

Edited by Garga
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16 minutes ago, Garga said:

I don’t understand the post.  What does it mean they used a contact list?  Does it mean that somewhere my name is on some sort of list?

What does it matter if these particular advertisers are on my FB page?  If it’s not them, it’ll be someone else, right?  

I’m not being snarky, I just honestly don’t understand what the post means to me or what I’m supposed to do about it and if I need to be concerned.

It looks like FB has given information about you (phone number, email address) to these advertisers. I'm not sure why a car dealer six states away wants my contact information though.

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3 hours ago, Garga said:

What does it matter if these particular advertisers are on my FB page?  If it’s not them, it’ll be someone else, right?  

 

I guess that you might get spam calls and emails from them.

54 minutes ago, Lanny said:

With one or 2 exceptions, mine were all car dealers in the USA. Since we live in Colombia, that seems a bit puzzling...

 

Probably Facebook trying to lay the blame on someone else for selling data to advertisers. 

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I don’t really understand this, either. I have over 1,700 there and most are cars. I don’t know why this is bad enough to spend a couple of hours eliminating them all individually. 

I did recently make many of my settings very tight because I don’t like FB nonsense. And I don’t buy anything through FB, nor do I use FB login credentials for other purchases. 

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4 hours ago, mom2scouts said:

It looks like FB has given information about you (phone number, email address) to these advertisers. I'm not sure why a car dealer six states away wants my contact information though.

It actually looks like the opposite to me - that the advertisers uploaded a contact list with your email or phone number, and Facebook helpfully looked up the emails/phone#s and connected them to the FB account associated with said email/phone.  Here's FB's explanation: "These advertisers are running ads using a contact list they or their partner uploaded that includes info about you. This info was collected by the advertiser or their partner. Typically this information is your email address or phone number. "

There are a zillion of them, and all I apparently can do is hide them, so I don't see ads from them.  I can't do what I want to do, which is get my info erased from their contact list and/or completely de-connect them from my FB account.  And the settings are fairly buttoned down - but it does allow anyone to search by email or phone#, and that's what's getting me here, I think.

ETA: It's unclear to me what info those advertisers can get from my account, since they aren't friends (and my content is limited to friends), all my location data is turned off, and all my "allow advertisers to do things and access things" settings are turned off.

ETA2: And one wonders how much FB facilitated those advertisers getting a hold of my email/phone#, in order to add it to their contact list.

ETA3: Ugh, finally hit the end: 623.

Edited by forty-two
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That was illuminating. Thank you. I only had 9, but it was interesting to see what they had listed as my interests. I can probably streamline some of the advertising that way, too.
What was actually a whole 'nother topic, and just a little alarming, was the Identity Confirmation section that would then decide whether or not to allow me to post political ads. Um, what?

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Quote

There are a zillion of them, and all I apparently can do is hide them, so I don't see ads from them.  I can't do what I want to do, which is get my info erased from their contact list and/or completely de-connect them from my FB account.

That’s what I’m thinking - I can only hide ads, not reverse info they might be collecting or keeping. 

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What does this even mean, anyway? Like, none of these are companies that I actually have ever engaged with (except I spied Warby Parker on there and I have bought WP glasses several times). Does this mean they're getting my data via FB? Or that they searched for me on FB from their contact lists so they could send me ads?

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2 minutes ago, Farrar said:

What does this even mean, anyway? 

 

My guess is that Facebook gave the advertisers my information. In the case of realtors, I think Facebook sold to the big ones like Keller Williams (KW) and all their agents has access to the same potential clients data.

For me, it’s just a good to know of who has my information even though I can’t do anything. Facebook has my email address since I use that as my userid. Facebook is not supposed to have my phone number as I didn’t supply that information. I guess Facebook is unaware or don’t care that I don’t have a Drivers ID when giving my information to car dealers. I even have AARP on my advertisers list. 

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I have FBPurity, too, but I'm finding I have at least as many, if not more, "sponsored posts" (read: advertisements). For some reason today, 3/4 of these sponsored posts are about bras for large women. I had no idea how many bra companies are available on line!

I just looked at my advertiser info. All vehicle companies, none of which are in my regional location. Very strange!

Edited by wilrunner
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Another interesting news.

From Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-daily-telegraph-positive-sponsored-news-stories-2019-4

“Facebook is partnering with a big UK newspaper to publish sponsored articles downplaying 'technofears' and praising the company

Facebook has found a novel solution to the never-ending deluge of negative headlines and news articles criticizing the company: Simply paying a British newspaper to run laudatory stories about it. 

Facebook has partnered with The Daily Telegraph, a broadsheet British newspaper, to run a series of features about the company, Business Insider has found — including stories that defend it on hot-button issues it has been criticised over like terrorist content, online safety, cyberbullying, fake accounts, and hate speech. 

The series — called "Being human in the information age" — has published 26 stories over the last month, to run in print and online, and is produced by Telegraph Spark, the newspaper's sponsored content unit. 

"Fake news, cyberbullying, artificial intelligence — it seems like life in the internet age can be a scary place," the articles say. "That's why Telegraph Spark and Facebook have teamed up to show how Facebook and other social media platforms are harnessing the power of the internet to protect your personal data." 

Sponsored native content, in which companies pay for media organizations to produce positive articles that appear similar to traditional news stories, are an increasingly popular method of monetization for many publications, including Business Insider. Some studies have been critical of the ad format, arguing they can mislead news consumers. 

Facebook's recent use of the format highlights how in its attempts to burnish its image after years of damaging scandals, the company is exploring ways to sidestep the critical media ecosystem entirely and get out a positive, unadulterated message about itself. 

In an email, Facebook spokesperson Vicky Gomes said that "this is a part of our larger marketing efforts in the UK with the goal of educating and driving awareness of our local investments, initiatives, and partnerships here in the UK that have a positive impact on people's lives."”

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The "contact list" comes when you OR your friends use a facebook app and it says "You agree to share your name, info, *and /friends/contact list* with facebook and it's partner 'Blah blah Blah App Corporation'". 

That's why you end up with car advertisers for places you don't live.  Your friends live there, and one of them used a facebook app that granted access to their friend list and/or the contact list on their phone.  Your info then gets sold to various advertisers.  And as far as I know, there's nothing you can really do about it, because it's your friends handing out your info.   You can choose to opt out of advertising, but that does nothing to keep your Great Aunt Bubbles from clicking "Ok!" when Candy Crush says "By using this app, you are agreeing to give access to your location, your phone microphone, your camera, your contact list, your friends list, etc". 

Welcome to Big Data. 

Edited by MissLemon
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12 hours ago, MissLemon said:

The "contact list" comes when you OR your friends use a facebook app and it says "You agree to share your name, info, *and /friends/contact list* with facebook and it's partner 'Blah blah Blah App Corporation'". 

That's why you end up with car advertisers for places you don't live.  Your friends live there, and one of them used a facebook app that granted access to their friend list and/or the contact list on their phone.  Your info then gets sold to various advertisers.  And as far as I know, there's nothing you can really do about it, because it's your friends handing out your info.   You can choose to opt out of advertising, but that does nothing to keep your Great Aunt Bubbles from clicking "Ok!" when Candy Crush says "By using this app, you are agreeing to give access to your location, your phone microphone, your camera, your contact list, your friends list, etc". 

Welcome to Big Data. 

But what if you don't have any "friends" on FB?

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