How can i stop targeted ads

Advertisers will upload a customer list to Facebook using email addresses or phone numbers. They will have collated these from newsletters or offers you signed up for, or when making a purchase at a retailer. Facebook will then match them to your profile without revealing your identity to the advertiser.

At the time of writing this article, I was matched with 22 businesses who had run ads on Facebook within seven days — most of them were associated with apps installed on my smartphone.

Ads from these advertisers can be hidden but, again, they need to be disabled individually. There is also a section where you can review ads you engaged with and report a negative experience. If your relationship status says single, do not be surprised if you see an ad from Happn or another dating app.

There is no need to remove this information from your profile, but you can prevent Facebook from sharing it with third parties. Just switch the toggle to do this. Next, make sure to go through the ad settings to give you more control over your data. It is possible to block Facebook from exchanging information on your online activity with its sister products e. Instagram or partner websites and apps. For instance, if you access Spotify or Netflix using your Facebook login, information on your activity and interests will be shared between the companies.

People want to know what their friends like. And Facebook knows that. This means that you might see ads based on the accounts you follow, the accounts you engage with, and your interests on Facebook. You can also see fewer ads about certain topics, such as alcohol, parenting, and pets.

Simply click the arrow pointing to the left in the top-left corner of the screen, then tap Ad topics under Ad preferences.

Now select the topics you want to see fewer ads from. To view the ads you have recently engaged with, tap Ad activity under General info. To learn how to block ads about specific brands or topics on Instagram, read our guide on how to get rid of annoying or repetitive adverts on Instagram. As is the case with Facebook and Instagram, it is not possible to completely remove promoted Twitter posts and accounts. You can, however, opt out of interest-based ads and data sharing by disabling the personalization and data features in the privacy and safety settings.

You can also tap Your Twitter data at the bottom of the screen to view a list of topics and accounts that have been matched with you based on your profile and activity. You can untick these individually, but the list will be replaced with more topics and brands as you engage with new tweets on the app. It's important to note is that these settings only apply to ads from Twitter and not any by third-party advertising partners such as Google. Unless you use social media for business purposes, it should feel like an extension of your life.

Reducing the ads you encounter on social media platforms puts you in control of your experience on the apps you love, so you can browse through your social media feeds with ease, and without being annoyingly and repeatedly bombarded by unwelcome ads. If you want to quit social media but don't know how, these tips will help you remove it from your life once and for all.

For example, my interests included everything from Colorado to plant nurseries. You can hide ads associated with an interest by hovering over it and clicking on the X in the box.

This works just like interests. You can choose to hide ads from particular advertisers, which is useful if you're annoyed by a specific ad popping up all the time in your feed.

The next section on tap is called Your information. This is the data Facebook uses to help advertisers target ads at you.

The categories include relationship status, employer, job title and education. The toggle switches on the side let you choose whether or not to allow advertisers to use these. Feel free to turn them all off. Also, take a peek at "Your categories" in this same section. You can nix these as well by clicking on the X.

Adding diversity: Facebook nominates Peggy Alford, first African American woman, to its board of directors. Lose my digits: Here's how to unlist your phone number on Facebook. Click on the Ad settings section to expand it. Here is where we can make substantial changes to throw targeted advertisers off your tracks.