Tech: Who is selling your data to Instagram and Facebook? Changing just one setting will stop all tracking..

If you use the Facebook or Instagram app, you've likely seen advertisements for online shopping websites while scrolling. Often, these ads are for products you've searched for on Amazon, Flipkart, or other e-commerce websites. This raises the question of how Facebook or Instagram gets access to your online shopping data. This also raises privacy concerns. Here, we'll tell you which websites Meta shares data with and how you can stop it.

What is the Your Activity Off Meta Technologies feature?
Meta has introduced a feature called "Your activity off Meta technologies," which shows user activity outside of Facebook and Instagram. When you view products on an e-commerce site or use certain apps, many businesses share this data with Meta. This helps Meta understand your preferences and interests. Based on this, you are shown personalized ads and suggestions. The company says this system is for ad personalization and improving the user experience, but users are also given complete control over it.

How to check which websites are sharing data
Facebook users can go to their profile icon, then to Settings & Privacy, and then open Settings. There, in the Accounts Center, you will find the Your information and permissions section. Within this, you will see the Your activity off Meta technologies option. Instagram users can also access this section by going to Settings from their profile icon and then to Accounts Center. Here, you will see a list of apps and websites that have recently shared data. This clearly shows which platforms are sending your activity to Meta.

How to disconnect data sharing and clear history
Within the Off Meta Activity section, users have several data control options. You can disconnect a single business or app individually, preventing it from sharing data in the future. Multiple sources can also be removed at once. Meta also provides an option to clear all past activity. This removes previously linked data from your account. However, Meta states that some information may remain in the system in an aggregated or anonymized form.

 How to stop tracking and download your data
Meta also gives users the option to completely disable future tracking. When this setting is enabled, external websites and apps will no longer be able to automatically share new activity with Meta. This may result in less personalized ads, but it increases privacy control. Users can also download their off-Meta data using the "Export your information" feature. This file can be saved to your local system or to cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox. The downloaded folder contains all the data in an organized manner, making it easy to understand what information has been shared over time.

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