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Why should I care? -

Facebook is no stranger to privacy scandals. In December 2019, details of 267 million Facebook users were leaked. 

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Data privacy -

And in 2018 there was the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which affected 87 million people.

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It's part of the deal -

Indeed, using Facebook means that you grant Mark Zuckerberg's company permission to log your activity in a number of ways.

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Facebook rules social media -

Facebook tracks a lot of your information, and don’t forget that it also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, so they have access to a lot of info about you.

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They know what you do -

Facebook knows where you check into, the users you interact with, the groups you join, etc.

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Advertising -

They track this data mainly for advertising purposes. Facebook logs this information so they have a profile they can target with specific advertising.

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Profiles -

Information such as your interests, your relationship status, your job, where you went to college, etc. is useful for advertisers.

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What you can do -

Concerned? Well, ahead are some steps to help you keep at least some of your privacy intact.

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Settings>Privacy -

If you use a computer, go to "Settings" and hit the "Privacy" tab. Here you’ll be able to control who sees what.

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Privacy settings -

First and foremost, review who sees your activity on Facebook. If you have everything set to "Public," your information is accessible to practically everyone.

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Privacy settings -

You should look at how people find and contact you. Limit it as much as you like.

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Apps and websites -

Here you can see the apps and websites you’re logged into with Facebook. You might be in for a surprise!

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Apps and websites -

If you’ve been using Facebook for some time, it's likely that you have given permission to some apps to process some of your information.

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Apps and websites -

You might not have realized it, but that app you logged into with Facebook years ago still has access to your friends list, your birthday, and other information!

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Apps and websites -

You can revoke all those permissions and ensure those apps and websites don’t use your data anymore.

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But how about the data they’ve used up to this point? -

You would have to contact the app or website directly and ask them to delete it. If they ask you for your User ID, you can find this by clicking on the "view and edit" tab of the app.

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Ad preferences -

The next step is Ads. Here you’ll find your Ad preferences and will be able to edit what information is used accordingly.

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Your information: "About you" -

Click on the "About you" tab. Here you can manage how ads are tailored to you based on some profile information, including relationship status, your job, and education. You can turn these off if you want.

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Ad settings -

You know when you've been looking for a product online, only to find a Facebook ad for the very same product? Go to ad settings and disable "Ads based on your activity on Facebook Company Products that you see elsewhere."

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Ad settings -

The same applies for "Ads based on data from partners" and "Ads that include your social actions." Just select "Not allowed" and "No one," accordingly.

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Your information: "Your categories" -

Now, if you click on "Your categories," you’ll find the categories Facebook put you in so that ads about certain products, services, and causes can be tailored to you. These might surprise you as well.

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Your interests -

This is kind of creepy and fun at the same time. Advertisers use this information to target specific ads at you based on your interests.

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Your interests -

You will see various categories, based on the pages you like and so on. Some you will notice have absolutely nothing to do with your real interests.

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Your interests -

You can remove the ones you don’t think are relevant. Beware though: you will still get Facebook ads, just not tailored to you based on those interests.

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Face recognition -

Face recognition might ring all kinds of privacy alarm bells. You can disable this feature in the "Face Recognition" settings.

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Hide specific ad topics -

If ads about a particular topic really bother you, you can stop these by going to "Hide ad topics."

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Location -

As creepy as it is to think about, Facebook knows where you are. But you can use your smartphone to change your location settings.

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This is just the tip of the iceberg -

Want to minimize your risks? Here's what you should delete from Facebook.

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