Facebook Rejects Encrypted Messaging Service Ads About Data That Facebook Collects

Facebook’s entire business model is built on collecting user data to target advertising. However, according to the encrypted messaging service Signal, Facebook doesn’t want you to know that. The service recently tried to buy ads on Instagram which sought to highlight the kinds of data that Facebook collects, but the social media giant shot them down.

According to screenshots shared by Signal, the ads would’ve highlighted the data Facebook collects about you with text like “this ad used your location to see you’re in Berlin” or “you have a new baby and you just moved.” The point, of course, was to highlight how creepy Facebook’s privacy practices are, and encourage users to encrypt their content.

“Being transparent about how ads use people’s data is apparently enough to get banned; in Facebook’s world, the only acceptable usage is to hide what you’re doing from your audience,” Signal wrote in a blog post.

“This is a stunt by Signal, who never even tried to actually run these ads — and we didn’t shut down their ad account for trying to do so,” Facebook said in response.

These failed ads from Signal don’t tell savvy Facebook users anything they don’t already know. Still, it’s eye-opening to see Facebook’s data practices brought to life so clearly.




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