Where are you shopping? Which friends are near you? Which places have you visited? Facebook knows it! How you can prevent this is written here.
With the Facebook app you can indicate where you are for each post. This can be great to share this information. In order for this to be possible, the app must access your cell phone's location tracking. If you allow this, Facebook will learn a lot of other things and can use them accordingly. Two examples:
Where are you shopping?
It should no longer be a secret that Facebook recognizes which websites you browse and shop on. But the app can also determine which store you go shopping “offline”. Companies that place ads on Facebook can indicate the location of their store and, based on your cell phone's location, evaluate how many customers came to their store after viewing the advertisement.
Which of your friends is nearby?
With Nearby Friends, the Facebook app can show you which of your friends are not far from you. However, you first have to activate the function in the app settings. Once you have done this, you can switch off “Friends Nearby” at any time. But be careful: Once you have used the function, Facebook permanently records your location, even when the app is turned off, says Facebook in an explanation of the location history. Your whereabouts will no longer be sent to your friends, but will be recorded in your activity log. And Facebook can evaluate them. A similar function is now also available on Snapchat .
Block access to location, disable location history
In the settings of your smartphone you can prohibit the Facebook app from accessing the location or the location service (usually in the “Data protection” menu item). This works with iOS, Windows and Android from version 6 (Marshmallow). Unfortunately, with older Android versions you can only generally deactivate the location service to protect yourself. security apps locate your smartphone if it is lost, also have problems . Our tip: Avoid the Facebook app and use the network via a browser app (m.facebook.com).
Facebook itself also offers you the option of blocking the recognition of places. To do this, open the app's settings (three horizontal lines at the top right on Android, bottom right on iOS) and scroll down to the account settings . After you open it, tap Location (in older versions it's called Location ) and turn off Location History . But that just means that the network doesn't permanently record your location and enter it into your activity log. The app continues to track your location for other purposes, such as “so you can find nearby places,” it said in a statement. So if you want to protect yourself properly, this setting is relatively pointless.
Confusion about “People You May Know”
An article in the online magazine Fusion in June 2016 initially suggested that Facebook was also using location tracking to suggest new friends among “people you may know.” The author of the article reports on a man who was in a self-help group and the next day another participant in the group was suggested as a friend. Normally you are anonymous in such groups. But because Facebook requires its users to use their real names, anonymity would suddenly be lost.
Facebook lists some of the criteria by which strangers are suggested as new friends : mutual friends, matching educational and professional information, shared networks, imported contacts and many other factors. But location is not a factor, a Facebook spokeswoman explains to checked4you: "We do not use location data, such as the location of the cell phone or location information that users add to their profile to suggest 'people you may know'."
Regardless of whether you believe this statement or not: the possibility of using your location for such purposes should be enough to prohibit the app from tracking your location.
Article © by (hamo), Checked4you.de
Article preview image: Cris Tina / Shutterstock.com
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