The biggest question a regular social media user can ask right now is How to stop Facebook and Instagram from gathering your info? Since the onset of the new tracking and advert policy implemented by Apple’s latest iOS 14, Android users have been left confused if they are being used as fodder.
Facebook is tracking what we do in other apps, websites and even learns where we go shopping. This much data can make ads feel like magic to the point. And they say that Facebook can passively learn about you, even when you haven’t used it for a long time.
How to stop Facebook and Instagram from gathering your info?
In this article, we will talk about the steps we can take to stop Facebook snooping. But these changes only impact what Facebook and Instagram can learn about you from tracking other apps and activities. Everything you and your friends do inside the Facebook and Instagram apps will still feed the companies about you.
The steps involved
The easiest route you can take is to delete your accounts on both services. Facebook will no longer build out a profile with your activities to target ads.
To completely delete your Facebook account:
- Click on this link in a browser where you’re logged in to Facebook.
- Select Permanently Delete Account, then click on Continue to Account Deletion.
- Click Delete Account, enter your password and continue and say goodbye forever.
Before you do this, you might want to download a copy of the data from your Facebook account. Use this link.
If the above step seems a bit drastic then you can always change a few or a lot of the Facebook app settings. Your Off-Facebook Activity settings are easiest to access on the Web by clicking this link. After clicking the above link.
- You’ll see a page that shows you the apps, websites and other businesses where Facebook has been tracking you.
- Tap More Options, then Manage Future Activity, then toggle Future Off-Facebook Activity to off.
It is also recommended to change a setting that gives Facebook permission to connect to other apps and websites. But after you adjust this setting this would keep you from logging into apps where you used Facebook to set up your account.
You can access your apps and linked website setting page with this link. Tap Turn Off next to apps, websites, and games. Here you will also see a lot of links that have expired over the course of time since you have been using Facebook.
One more way Facebook learns about you is when other companies send it your email address (or phone number or some other way to identify you). Facebook then matches up this info with the account associated with that email. So try using a different email address for Facebook to get an extra layer of protection.