Facebook Makes Opting Out of Behavioral Ad Targeting Easier

Facebook has been using social plug-ins such as the like and share buttons placed on others' sites to add to what it knows about the 1.49 billion people that use the social network each month. Next month it will start using that information to target ads -- as it said it would in June 2014 -- but before that happens it's giving people an easier way to opt out of those behaviorally targeted ads. Facebook is adding a tool to the ad settings tab that people can use to tell Facebook they don't want the social network to show them ads based on the sites they browse outside of Facebook. If people opt out of these ads, Facebook will no longer use that behavioral data for the ads it runs on Facebook, Instagram and across its mobile in-app ad network. The ability to prevent Facebook from targeting ads based on off-Facebook browsing behavior isn't new. But being able to opt out of that targeting within a person's Facebook settings is new. Previously people could click on a link within the Facebook ad settings that directed them to a page run by the Digital Advertising Alliance, which manages the industry's self-regulatory AdChoices program, in order to opt out of behavioral tracking. One advantage to opting out of behavioral tracking on Facebook's site versus the DAA's is that the opt-out should be more persistent when it comes to ads on Facebook. Since the DAA's opt-out is cookie-based, a person would need to opt out on each device they use to access Facebook. But Facebook's tool connects the opt-out to a person's Facebook account meaning that Facebook will be able to recognize and honor the opt-out request even if you're logged into Facebook on someone else's computer or phone.