A comprehensive investigation, conducted in partnership between Consumer Reports and The Markup, has exposed the vast extent of data surveillance that is directed at users of Facebook. Some study participants were monitored by as many as 7,000 businesses.
709 volunteers were asked to contribute archives of their Facebook user data. Consumer Reports was astounded to learn that 186,892 distinct organizations had transmitted information about these users to Facebook.
Data from each participant was, on average, disseminated by 2,230 companies; however, certain users’ data was shared by more than 7,000 companies.
This examination brought attention to a less prevalent type of monitoring referred to as server-to-server tracking, in which personal information is transmitted directly from the servers of a company to the servers of Meta. This method occurs in addition to the more obvious approach that employs Meta tracking pixels on company websites.
Emil Vazquez, a spokesperson for Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, defended the company’s data practices, stating: “We offer a number of transparency tools to help people understand the information that businesses choose to share with us, and manage how it’s used.”
Consumer Reports, on the other hand, identified problems with these tools, such as ambiguous data provider identities and advertising service providers frequently disregarding user opt-out requests.
An unexpected discovery was the widespread occurrence of LiveRamp, a data broker, which was detected in the data of 96% of the participants in the study. In addition to obscure data aggregators, the roster of organizations that provide Facebook with data comprises prominent retailers such as Home Depot, Macy’s, Walmart, as well as Experian and TransUnion’s Neustar, Amazon, Etsy, and PayPal. LiveRamp’s lack of response to a request for comment regarding this subject is noteworthy.
There were two primary collection categories from which the study obtained its data: “events” and “custom audiences.” The latter entails advertisers transferring customer profiles, which comprise mobile advertising IDs and email addresses, to Meta in order to target advertisements on Meta’s platforms. “Events” refer to tangible transactions that occur in the physical world, such as visits to websites or purchases from stores, and are enabled through the utilization of Meta’s software in applications, monitoring pixels on websites, and server-to-server tracking.
The deputy director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Caitriona Fitzgerald, conveyed apprehension regarding the scope of monitoring in an interview with The Markup: “This type of tracking which occurs entirely outside of the user’s view is just so far outside of what people expect when they use the internet.” Additionally, she stated, “they [consumers] don’t expect Meta to know what stores they walk into or what news articles they’re reading or every site they visit online.”
Ryan DeLarme is an American journalist navigating a labyrinth of political corruption, overreaching corporate influence, a burgeoning censorship-industrial complex, compromised media, and the planned destruction of our constitutional republic. He writes for Badlands Media and is also a Host and Founder at Vigilant News. Additionally, his writing has been featured in American Thinker, the Post-Liberal, Winter Watch, Underground Newswire, and Stillness in the Storm. He’s also writes for alt-media streaming platforms Dauntless Dialogue and Rise.tv. Ryan enjoys gardening, kung fu, creative writing and fighting to SAVE AMERICA
