There are many big tech companies which might be using their users’ private data without their permission and one of those companies which have been accused of such allegations is Facebook. In a recent survey done by Pew Research Center, it’s been found that many people in the USA still don’t know that their data on Facebook is used by the company to show them sponsored Ads and many other related products. In this survey, researchers tried to ask some questions to the random people regarding how they feel about knowing that Facebook uses their information to show them Ads. More than 74 percent people were unaware about the fact that the company uses their “Interest” or data to show them Ads. Researchers of this survey said that more than 51 percent of people are not comfortable with this way of company’s doing business.
Facebook has billions of users, and the majority of them uses the company’s platform on a daily basis. Facebook as tech giant uses various methods to target the ads to its users, including the pages and posts liked by users and their friends, it also uses your location to show you relevant Ads. There are some reports which state that the company has been using many peoples Instagram and Whatsapp profiles to show the decent Ads which explains how Facebook uses a users information. Even though the company has been stating about its transparency, there are many occasions like Cambridge analytical data scandal which makes every user more suspicious about the company’s way of doing business.
Researchers think that there needs to be more awareness among people about how Facebook is using targeted ads by collecting information from the users’ profiles