bookbard Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 You know how FB pushes posts on you: "suggested for you"? The last week I've been getting post after post suggested with lots of anti-vax, covid is a hoax, blame Biden type pages - all of them are American, and I'm not! I keep pressing the 'don't show me any more' but they just keep coming up. I have very few friends and am part of very few groups, none of which are American or anti-vax, so I'm not clicking on anything remotely similar. They're not 'ads' so there's no way of turning anything off in the ads section. Any other ideas about a) how to stop it and b) why it's happening? 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Perhaps something's gone sideways in the algorithm. Facebook suddenly thinks I like basketball and college football. (I don't) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Louise Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 That's odd. I'm not getting any of that. I wonder if it's because you've been googling stuff about vaccines? Can you report them? I report anything anti vax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 I'm no help at all, but algorithms do go wrong. I sometimes wonder if a neighbour's wifi is glitching and our data is mixed up. I've recently been getting articles about large dog breeds, German salads and European motorbike holidays. No, no and no. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 10 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said: I'm no help at all, but algorithms do go wrong. I sometimes wonder if a neighbour's wifi is glitching and our data is mixed up. I've recently been getting articles about large dog breeds, German salads and European motorbike holidays. No, no and no. Maybe it's Opposite Day? 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 2 hours ago, Melissa Louise said: I wonder if it's because you've been googling stuff about vaccines? Can you report them? I report anything anti vax. Funny, a friend suggested it might be covid research related - she's been getting similar results. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 So, after googling, I read that if you change your newsfeed to chronological, it can reduce the dodge suggestions - I used the link below to do it and I think it's working? Worth a try. I have put it below with some spaces so you can see the code. https// www. facebook.com/ ?sk = h_chr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Are you on homeschool pages? So disappointing but there’s a few homeschool pages pushing anti vax stuff so it may have been coming that way. Or there’s a disinformation campaign going on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 First thing I do when I go on Facebook is click on "Most Recent". On PC it's in the list on the left, I think on a phone or tablet its on the main menu. This makes my feed 99% my friends and groups I follow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said: Are you on homeschool pages? So disappointing but there’s a few homeschool pages pushing anti vax stuff so it may have been coming that way. Or there’s a disinformation campaign going on. Well, there's definitely a disinformation campaign going on. And FB is definitely in on it in that they don't police it very well and prioritize posts that cause reactions, which these do. Edited September 15, 2021 by Farrar 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 I’ve found when I’m getting too much like that they’ve adjusted information about me to be incorrect somewhere in the settings. Like it will say I’m conservative when I’m not, etc. When I dig through the privacy, targeted ads, and profile settings I can usually turn these off. I haven’t done it in long enough that I can’t give specific instructions. The other thing I do is block the third party source of everything I find offensive. It took a year of consistently doing this but now it’s pretty rare for a new offensive thing to pop up. All my friends who post offensive things get them from the same places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 The program is seriously wonky. This week facebook decided I like to cook! I ave never clicked on any ad of any kind that would give it this impression. I don't post pictures of food on my page. I hate cooking though I am good at it. Clearly facebook has lost its ever loving mind!! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 How about a more spook explanation... You have the microphone turned on for the FB app on your phone and it heard someone mention "anti-vax"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 (edited) Well, I am glad I'm not the only one. For the past two weeks, I have been getting more "suggested for you" posts than ever and they have mostly been people doing stupid stuff (like epic fail stuff or hold my beer kinds of stunts) or for things I have absolutely no interest in but people who do stupid stuff would probably like. No anti-vax propaganda, yet (I have enough of those from one of the nurses I am FB friends with!) I have been methodically clicking 'hide all from "misc. stupid poster"', but that hasn't eliminated the recent onslaught. I will try the "most recent" button, thanks pp! In terms of spooks, I was very concerned last week about this; I googled "needhams candy" on my home computer at home because my father would like some for his birthday. Later that week I went into work and opened the shared computer only to find three links to recipes for needhams (complete with mouthwatering photos) popping up on the bottom of the search screen. I don't consider needhams default kinds of things that would pop up on just any computer. Somehow "they" are following me all around town with their suggestions! Glad I wasn't googling something like "comfortable underwear"! Nobody needs to see that at work! Edited September 15, 2021 by Kalmia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 Yeah it isn't specifically anti-vax - so this morning it was 'the military has become too woke' from some page called Conservative Weekly. Again, it's American, and I'm not. It's that sort of thing I'm getting over and over. Yes, that code I put down makes it most recent and that definitely works. I do think it's weird that these suggestions (which are all mostly negative to the current us govt) have popped up over and over in the last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 7 hours ago, PeterPan said: How about a more spook explanation... You have the microphone turned on for the FB app on your phone and it heard someone mention "anti-vax"... This would not surprise me. My doctor plays K-Love in the waiting room of her office. A few hours after being there, my fb feed was full of ads for women's Christian life coaching services. I am not Christian. 😒 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookbard Posted September 15, 2021 Author Share Posted September 15, 2021 7 hours ago, PeterPan said: How about a more spook explanation... You have the microphone turned on for the FB app on your phone and it heard someone mention "anti-vax"... yeah I don't have it on my phone, just my pc. I do wonder if the explanation above - ie looking stuff up re covid - is the reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Louise Posted September 15, 2021 Share Posted September 15, 2021 Well, I was googling new bras on the weekend and my FB feed today is all bra ads, so I'd say it's your searches + FB getting it slightly wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 I keep getting anti abortion stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyacinth Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 I don’t get political content from FB, but I am getting a lot of “use this makeup for your tired, aging eyes” and “use this girdle-like thing for your lumpy, large body” and “use this hair styling tool for your mousy, boring hair.” 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 One time Google Maps set a town about 3 hours away as my default because my neighbour was saying something about it to me over the fence while his phone was in his pocket. My phone was in my house, and the only online contact we've ever had was a couple of favours asked over Messenger. We're not even actual Facebook friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ieta_cassiopeia Posted September 16, 2021 Share Posted September 16, 2021 There have been experiments with microphone recordings feeding into search results, but they were very unsophisticated (not even differentiating between different people who happened to be in range, let alone reliably picking up enough words to figure out context). This has led, among other things, to pro-vax people getting anti-vax stuff. However, that was tending to be more on mobile than desktop, and OP's getting it the other way round, so I think this is not the cause. The more traditional "misinterpreting search" seems more plausible*. * - My search misinterpretation story: back in 2015, a sports team I supported went into a specific form of administration I didn't understand, so I looked it up. Cue all the targeted ads for the next 8 months trying to sell me the administration type in question. Despite me not having a business to put into administration. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I lived in the same country as the team in question... Fortunately, after 8 months, I figured out how to stop targeted ads from most of the sources I was getting them from. My journey planner software still thinks I live 800 miles and 3 countries away from my actual home, but I leave that as it is for safety reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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