You may notice that after searching for a certain topic online, ads about that similar subject will start appearing on your social media platforms. Those are targeted ads, and you might see more of those if you opt into Meta's Link History for Facebook and Instagram.
Ad Targeting Might Get Worse
Meta recently released Link History for Instagram and Facebook on mobile, which allows you to view all the links you've visited in one place. If you look at the notes included in the prompt, it says that using the feature will also allow Meta to use your information to improve ads.
Once you agree to this, Meta might start using the links you visit to determine the kind of ads that will show up on your timeline. While this can be used for ad content accuracy, it can also increase the frequency with which they show up.
This feature is already active on both Facebook and Instagram. In fact, it's only now that users are discovering it but Instagram has had the feature since last summer, as reported by Engadget. The good news is that you can opt out of it any time you want.
You may not even need to since it's not enabled by default. You can still check if you may have accidentally agreed to opt in, especially if you don't want to allow Meta to access any more of your data or don't plan on seeing more accurate ads.
To do so, tap any link inside the Facebook app to open its Mobile Browser. By selecting the three-dot menu on the bottom right, you can go ahead and go to Settings. A toggle for Link Hsitory will appear, which you can then turn on or off.
Once you turn it off, Facebook will immediately clear your history of links, and naturally, you will no longer have a list of saved links in the last 30 days. Meta also stated that they won't "save your link history or use it to improve your ads across Meta technologies."
If you want to opt out of the feature, you may want to do it as soon as you can. According to Meta, it may take the company up to 90 days to complete the deletion process, meaning that you might suffer through three more months of enhanced ad targeting.
What Kind of Data Does Facebook Collect
Even if you do disable the Link History feature, Meta still has a plethora of ways to collect your data, unfortunately. That means that you'll still get targeted ads based on your other activities like the pages you follow or the content you interact with.
Facebook states that it collects content, communications, and other information you provide when you use Meta products, which include Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, which start the moment you sign up for an account.
Aside from the people, pages, and other accounts you interact with, Facebook also collects data regarding the time, frequency, and duration of your usage of its products. That includes information about transactions and what other users provide about you.
