Facebook tracks users (and non-users), even when they’re not logged in, via the Pixel. The Pixel is a largely unnoticeable "analytics tool" running in the background of millions of websites (including this one) which collates and reports your actions, on a granular level, back to Facebook. Among other things, the Pixel enables website owners to later target their visitors with ads on Facebook. In a recent test done by the Markup, 30 percent of popular websites were laden with an embedded Facebook Pixel.
One site with the Facebook Pixel is WebMD. Ever searched for anything personal, or private, on WebMD? "Our advertising service partners may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information about your use of the WebMD Sites, including content you have viewed," reads the WebMD privacy policy. "Two of the third parties that WebMD works with are Google and Facebook."
Privacy Badger, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, can identify tracking pixels, and uBlock Origin blocks all kinds of nefarious trackers. Blacklight reveals what trackers are running in the background of websites without — and here’s the key— you having to visit those websites first.
See New tool makes it easy to see which websites are in bed with Facebook
#technology #tracking #deletefacebook #privacy
Facebook tracks users even when they’re not logged in.