Domestic Diversions

Always watching: Is Facebook the real “Big Brother?”

CNN Money focuses a moment on Facebook’s most recent example of tracking everything about you. Since people willingly sacrifice privacy for the privilege of using their pages, they watch you and then sell you to advertisers. Tracking habits, Facebook compiled a list of people likely to be Jewish, while also letting advertisers target their media dollars on people who used the term “jew hater.”

Sara Ashley O’Brien and Donie O’Sullivan write (excerpt):
Not surprisingly, the social media giant collects troves of data on its users. If you’ve ever clicked on ads — for a retailer or a fashion designer — or posted updates about political topics, the shows you’re watching or holidays, the company pulls that data into your ad preferences page. . . .

That information is categorized to “help advertisers reach people who are most likely to be interested in their products, services, and causes,” Facebook states on the ad page.

In addition to using the information people have provided on Facebook, the company also says it tracks “other activity.”

The categories listed on user accounts can get very specific, such as “close friends of expats,” “away from family,” and “returned from travels 1 week ago,” as well as more generic ones like “millennial.” . . .

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