Opting Out (at least a little)

In this week's module, we focused on privacy and social media, among other topics.

That led me to the article attached below, which explains how to opt out of some of Meta's tracking. It was interesting to read that Meta specializes in surveillance advertising. Their value is in your data, which they collect by:

  • Behavioral tracking (how long you linger on their content, ads you click, searches)
  • Off-platform activity (web browsing, shopping habits outside of their platforms)
  • Location tracking
  • Profile matching (cross referencing data from Facebook, WhatsApp & connected contacts) 
They then develop a highly detailed digital profile and sell targeted advertising. 

While the on-platform surveillance did not surprise me, the depth of the off-platform tracking did. And the fact that this level of intrusion has been normalized in today's digital economy.

I know the genie is not going back in the bottle but I like to think we have some power left to limit tracking as much as possible and be aware of the multi-media push to drive us to spend more, consume more and provide financial data to companies why rely on separating us from our money as quickly as possible.

I have provided a link to the article below, for anyone interested in limiting the amount of digital information shared. I am not sure how effective this is, however, as I have a feeling the digital currency is not left behind quite so easily!

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/mad-meta-dont-let-them-collect-and-monetize-your-personal-data


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