So,Western Archives you've restricted the information advertisers can see on your Facebook profile, but you're still getting served near-perfect ads? It could be down to your shadow profile.
At some stage you might've given your phone number to Facebook for two-factor authentication, or a friend may have given your email away in the contact importer, in an attempt to find friends on the platform.
Those phone numbers or emails might not be visible on one's profile, but they sit in a hidden layer which is called a shadow profile.
SEE ALSO: Facebook Pages can now join Facebook GroupsAdvertisers are able to use this hidden layer of personal information to target you with ads, as outlined in a Gizmodo report.
All advertisers need to do is upload the phone numbers and email addresses they've collected to Facebook. Most of us don't think about giving these details away when you're purchasing something from an online store, or say, signing up to a political campaign.
Facebook calls this a custom audience, and allows advertisers to sell to people they know are already interested in their product or service.
What's unsettling is that advertisers can seemingly target people who have supplied their phone number to Facebook, thinking it would only be used for security reasons, or have no knowledge of their contact details being given away at all.
A study cited by the report saw researchers from Northwestern University test if Facebook was using shadow contact info by uploading hundreds of landline phone numbers from the college.
A landline number is information that is unlikely to be added to one's profile, but likely would've sat dormant in one's personal contacts, only to be uploaded to Facebook by users looking for friends.
The study found many of these numbers could be used for ad targeting, culminating in an ad showing up in the news feed of one of the researchers on the paper, Alan Mislove.
Facebook didn't reject the study's findings, with a spokesperson explaining via email: "We use the information people provide to offer a better, more personalized experience on Facebook, including ads. We are clear about how we use the information we collect, including the contact information that people upload or add to their own accounts. You can manage and delete the contact information you've uploaded at any time."
What the report reveals is that Facebook is perhaps not transparent enough when it comes to handling data that isn't publicly available on your profile, culminating in near-psychic advertising, and creepily on point suggestions for people you may know.
UPDATE: Sept. 27, 2018, 6:07 p.m. AEST Added comment from Facebook.
Topics Facebook Privacy Social Media
Music is the secret weapon of Mario Speedrunners
Lenovo's foldable PC will be available later this year for $2,499
Airbnb's on a problematic world tour to make your landlord like them
'The Witcher' on Netflix: So many people are covering that one song
Today's Hurdle hints and answers for April 23, 2025
Special toilet paper is how one fashion blogger handled all her potty
Arnold Schwarzenegger slams Donald Trump in 40 second Twitter rant
It's OK to cancel plans. This meme says so.
Skywatching is lit in May, says NASA
Here's a simple trick for getting over someone
Samsung Unpacked stream is set for May 12, 2025
Lenovo's foldable PC will be available later this year for $2,499
Arianna Huffington blasts CNN over misleading headline
Here's a simple trick for getting over someone
The internet is talking like Kevin from 'The Office' now
Alec Baldwin gives kid pretty good lesson on his Trump impression
Byton adds voice AI to its massive screen dashboard
Stator's big
Analyzing Graphics Card Pricing: May 2018
Lenovo's Smart Frame puts your digital photos on display without ruining your feng shui
Ivanka Trump's unpaid interns share cringeworthy financial advice'Breaking Bad' twoFrank Ocean's visual album brought out a mix of emotions in everyone last nightFrank Ocean's visual album brought out a mix of emotions in everyone last nightHere is the Donald Trump campaign's first TV adFans are worried about that 'American Horror Story: Apocalypse' finaleThis small electric car was designed by an eAngry seagull raids supermarket, forces emergency evacuationOlympians' big night out results in closing ceremony ban and curfewWhat critics thought of 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'Is 'Oumuamua an interstellar spaceship? Don't believe the hype.Idris Elba finally wins 'Sexiest Man Alive' but just wants you to votePhoto of Olympic boxers squaring off shows importance of weight classesIvanka Trump's unpaid interns share cringeworthy financial adviceFemale wrestler wins India's first Olympic medal of 2016China's stateApple acquires medical record startup Gliimpse as latest step to visualize personal health dataApple acquires medical record startup Gliimpse as latest step to visualize personal health dataVine creator reveals the name of his new app: bytePresenter awkwardly explains what couple behind him are doing An Object Lesson: Beware of Getting Out of Touch by The Paris Review Edward Lear’s Cat by Sadie Stein Finnegans Wake: An Illustrated Panorama by Jason Novak Dead Authors at Fashion Week: Part 3 by Katherine Bernard Marilyn’s Books, Hemingway’s Vacation by Sadie Stein How to Live with an Idiot by Sadie Stein Object Lesson: Classics by The Paris Review Wallace Shawn Reads Denis Johnson by Sadie Stein The Mo Yan Culture Experience Zone, and Other News by Sadie Stein The Haunting; Or, the Ghost of Ty Cobb by Sadie Stein Literary Stockings, Keats’s Addiction by Sadie Stein Paranoid Mazurka in C The Jewish Vicar by Jon Canter Happy Birthday, Ballpoint! by Sadie Stein Tonight: “Get in the back of the van!” by Sadie Stein Singular, Difficult, Shadowed, Brilliant by Sadie Stein Open Sesame by Joshua Cohen Dead Authors at Fashion Week: Part 5 by Katherine Bernard The Paris Review App by The Paris Review Fake Books, Fictional Detectives by Sadie Stein
1.9883s , 10132.484375 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Western Archives】,Steady Information Network