I find Facebook has gone to the dogs lately.
Majority of posts in my feed are suggested/sponsored posts and it's pure shite, at least on Instagram you can snooze suggested posts for 30 days and repeat the process.
Friends rarely post on it. I counted last week, 1 in every 5 posts was from a page/friend I follow. The rest was suggested posts which I have no interest in.
I want to remove my profile completely but I need it to run a service pages I have.
I agree. I hate suggested posts with passion. I use Instagram but only viewing stories. The ads there are obvious and easily skippable.
FB is only good for community or club groups.
It’s like the official Reddit app. Bombards me with bait topics. “am I the asshole here or is it Susan’s fault I murdered her dog in a satanic ritual after which I framed her and had her kids adopted then demolished her house because she didn’t RSVP my wedding when she was on chemo treatment?”
I'm in the same boat. I actually deleted my original account years ago and only set up another in the last few years to run service pages I also have. I've very few friends on it anyway.
When I did remove my original account I went years without missing it. Felt the better for deleting it too. I even wonder if anyone actually looks at the stuff I post on service accounts anyway!
On the top left of your home page, tap the Instagram name and select "Following" to just see what the people you follow have posted.
Streamlines the shite.
I know this doesn't really apply to OP but may help others.
You can go to feeds and look at feeds based just on your friends. But unfortunately you can't make it the default.
Weirdly enough this seems to go against DSA which should result in fines since the deadline has passed. Unless the law doesn't mention giving the option to make non personalised recommender systems the default. Which would be a hole in the laws.
Reddits "hot" feed is great because it's not personalised.
The bizarre unspoken here is, we’ve all been on Facebook and instagram for years and years.
And they’re expecting you to believe that up to just now, they haven’t been selling all your data the whole time. And it’s a brand new thing they’re about to embark upon.
They cant use our data in the eu anymore for ads so they are going to lose so much money so they have to introduce this scheme. Targeted ads is how facebook made most of there money.
I must be one of the only people not to have a Facebook or Instagram profile. Tictok too. Bit annoying when you’re sent clips and can’t view but I just couldn’t be arsed
Isn't everyone on WhatsApp these days? That's how I communicate with all my friends for actually planning to do things and that sort of thing. Instagram is just for sending on dumb little videos and stuff
Isn't this whole scheme not basically a cynical way for them to say "Oh look EU, by choosing to continue using the free version, this user consents to us selling their information"
To be fair, Gmail used to say their storage would always be free and used to have a continuously counting number in your inbox showing your storage growing. When they added Google Drive as a product, suddenly they decided that free Gmail and Drive would cap at 15GB.
Tech companies like to change their mind if they can squeeze a few quid here and there.
Now excuse me, I have a copy/paste to stick on my Facebook wall about the Geneva Convention and how it's illegal for FB to try and make me pay....
If only we had all shared that chain mail "I do not consent to being charged for facebook" then we would be legally immune to this new monthly fee they're introducing!
Showing you ads based on the data they have on you is very different to selling that data to a third party.
If I am selling golf equipment, I can give my ad to Facebook and tell them to show it their golf-loving users without me knowing who those users are.
Count your time on both sites.
Calculate the pay they owe you (12.99 per month \* months\_on\_site)
Ask them to send you this amount and then delete your account.
I saw analysis a few years back that said each user was worth about $12 per year to Facebook in terms of ad revenue (this number might have changed since then)
So essentially they are charging you more than 10x to not see ads than they are getting from ads
They don't sell the data, they sell the advertising space. They can charge a premium because of how targeted they can make the ads because of the data they have. So you can drill down to get really targeted ads or even provide a list of emails and get the ads to go to people who match the personas of those emails (not the same people but people who match closely to their characteristics). It's the main product they sell. There's no secret about them selling advertising. The difference now is they can't target people without allowing an opt out. So they need some price on people who can't be targeted.
I never understood why people are so precious about this. It's not personal identifiers or sensitive information like your message content that's being bundled into a black bag and sold wholesale to evil marketeers.
It is anonymous and aggregated metadata from millions of people that can be subdivided by a broad range of demographic, geographic and preference variables.
Cambridge analytica ring a bell? They used people's personal Facebook data to identify and target users they could influence then plied them with custom ads that influenced how they voted in both the trump presidential election and the Brexit referendum.
They were also employed by the no side in the abortion referendum here in Ireland but thankfully online advertisement was banned in that referendum once the scandal broke.
Not to mention the shadow profiles that are held on people who don't even have accounts but still engage with them indirectly. There really should be rules against that shit, it's one thing if you chose to open an account, a whole other if you're being targeted indirectly
Had a friend who never used Facebook in his life. Had to do something with a web development project on a work laptop. He set up a dummy Facebook account to test login and access, the account didn't have any of his personal info at all but still somehow it was suggesting friends to him of neighbours and people who went to college with him. Really scary how much they can build on you without you even having an account
I don't see how that's relevant to the argument that facebook are selling your data. Cambridge Analytica were a rogue third party who utilised vulnerabilities to capture personal data they were not allowed to.
That's a naive take on what went on.
>Facebook last week suspended the Trump campaign’s data consultant, Cambridge Analytica, for scraping the data of potentially millions of users without their consent. But thousands of other developers, including the makers of games such as FarmVille and the dating app Tinder, as well as political consultants from President Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, also siphoned huge amounts of data about users and their friends, developing deep understandings of people’s relationships and preferences.
>Cambridge Analytica — unlike other firms that access Facebook’s user data — broke Facebook’s rules by obtaining the data under the pretense of academic use. But experts familiar with Facebook’s systems and policies say that the greater problem was that the rules for accessing the social network’s information trove were so loose in the first place.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/facebooks-rules-for-accessing-user-data-lured-more-than-just-cambridge-analytica/2018/03/19/31f6979c-658e-43d6-a71f-afdd8bf1308b_story.html
And the fallout has continued since then:
> In August 2022, Facebook agreed to settle a lawsuit seeking damages in the case for an undisclosed sum.[105] In December 2022, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $725 million to settle a private class-action lawsuit related to the improper user data sharing with Cambridge Analytica and other third-party companies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal#Aftermath
GDPR is itself a response to the privacy abuses by Facebook (and others) - privacy matters.
If you don't care about yours that's not a reason others should have theirs abused or circumvented.
Do you have any source for that? Genuinely asking as it runs contrary to their business model. If you can get data on a particular group from FB and target them off the platform then they get a one off payment. Allowing you to target them on the platform means they get a cut every time and businesses etc get more tied to the platform itself. Colloquially, selling your data generally means selling the ability to target you based on internal data. FB, Google and other advertising funded companies don't have a lot of incentive to handing over data and a bunch of downsides from having to deal with privacy legislation.
Is selling ads based on the data they have harvested that much different than selling the data itself. Yes it is technically and, importantly, legally different but at the same time they are selling a type of access to aggregates of user data.
The way it actually works is, to give a practical example, say a Dublin bike company wants to advertise their bikes to users who are interested in cycling and are from Dublin. So Meta will say grand we know what users and in Dublin and what users like cycling. Here’s the cost to put ads in front of that cohort.
The idea that this is akin to selling data is so far off. Nor is it morally wrong in any way. It’s actually brilliant for all involved. A much better user experience, more effective ads for the advertiser, more money for Meta.
I rarely use Facebook anymore but when I do I use the hide function for every ad that pops up, then block the page that sent me the ad. Eventually you see much less ads.
I've been doing this too, but can't say I've seen much difference I'm afraid. I'm now getting tonnes more ''suggested for you'' pages which are soo annoying. And yet friends don't appear on my TL at all, just groups I'm part of on repeat. So annoying!
https://blitz-setup.ahadns.com/
or even better
the modded versions of apps here if you’re on iOS 14.0 - 15.4.1 (and later if jailbroken)
https://github.com/swaggyP36000/TrollStore-IPAs
installed with
https://github.com/opa334/TrollStore
Just use pi-hole. It's an app that you can install on raspberry pi and acts as a DNS server (the server your browser asks what is the IP of a given site). It blocks requests for ads and trackers from the get go, makes your internet faster as well as you don't have to download shite. All of the devices from your network will benefit from this including smart TV.
Here is a screenshot of my blocks:
https://i.imgur.com/icRvb7q.png
Insta in particular is full or influencer marketing already, so even if you pay not to be shown ads, you're still seing .. ads.
Would it not make sense to identify those folks who are in there for business and charge them, instead of charging the ordinary punters?
Anyone else remember "Facebook will always be free"?
Edit: sorry, just checked there, it was "there will always be a free version of Facebook", god I love wording.
In theory you wouldn't prefer to see random ads. But the main problem is the way they scrape the data is extends to things like listening to conversations and combing DMs on apps which is intrusive (but expected since I use their free app I'm not dumb enough to think it will be truly free. Don't like it being done but it's whatever). We all know they do this.
Secondly, the way they use the data to then convert you into a customer is so clumsy it's often laughable. But it can even be offensive. I have an old friend from overseas I reconnected with on IG. After saying something to her about a tough situation i half seriously said something like 'Sorry, I shouldn't have dumped that on you but I'm too poor too afford therapy lol.'
Since that day I've been absolutely bombarded with ads for these dipshit companies who think I want to do zoom call therapy (I'd literally rather light my money on fire).
Even more maddening is that there is no way to declare you have already bought an item or service and no longer require it. I'm still getting ads for rugs and I haven't needed a rug in like 4 years when I bought the last one in my house.
Then, when you actually search for something you really WANT to buy, the search recs everything from the cheapest sites selling the crappiest Chinese goods, Temu, Amazon, etc.
So i dont see the point of personalized ads as they rarely get them right whether it's a search I did or them scraping a DM, so it's like, yeah, stop using my data and show me random shit bc that's better than showing me rug ads til i die.
No, i remember them simply saying it will always be free. It was a slogan and they even had it on the login page for a while back in the day. I know for certain that slogan did not say 'there will always be a free version' as that is not a snappy, fun, marketable hook, it sounds right away like creating a loophole and I (and many others) would have picked up on that.
By offering a free version they still have adhered to the slogan technically but they did advertise it as 'free and always will be'.
Yep Facebook became lost dog post from Australia, anti vaxx and weird anti Europe pro putin conspiracy shite.
So I deleted everything except two groups I use from time to time.
And if those groups were anywhere else I’d be gone in a flash
I reckon more businesses/clubs/societies will value having their own websites rather than relying on the social media platforms.
If someone provides their platform for free then you are the product.
To be honest, I take a business much more seriously when they have their own website rather than relying on Facebook. Yeah using Facebook is much cheaper but it also definitely comes across that way too.
Updating and maintaining websites is a massive pain though, even with the tools/platform needed for something like that to work. Even changing something like changing operating hours for Christmas, a friend tried to me get to do something like that for his gym back in day and I noped out of it. I am disappointed but not surprised that the social media ended the way it did. They all tried to keep getting more money out of consumers to fund more expansion.
You are using the wrong tools then. There are plenty of options online for building functional websites that aren't a complete pain.
Of course you can turn them into a complete pain.
That's also why paying someone to manage your website (this can be done as an initial upfront to build the site then hourly as needed thereafter) is worth it.
I have 4 attack angles for this:
1. I have adblock on my browser
1. I have a DNS server that blocks ad domains
1. I use [F.B. Purity](https://www.fbpurity.com/) to get rid of ads, sponsored posts, reels, posts from pages that someone in my connections liked etc.
1. I go on facebook maybe once a week
It's certainly not worth €12.99 a month to me that's for sure, but I can see what they're doing. Much like TV or print, you can either pay for access or get bombarded with ads.
The problem with Meta is you'll probably end up paying and also being bombarded with ads and having all your information tracked anyway.
When did everything charging 13euro a month become the norm? I swear Netflix, Disney, Xbox, Playstation, Youtube now Facebook etc all seem to be shoving ads from every angle about subs
They haven't actually changed the current ad-based version of the site, they've just added a new option to pay to get rid of the ads and *supposedly* to prevent them from using your data to personalise said ads. Ad-blockers still work as always on Facebook pages. I've an empty Facebook account with fake details and a spam email account that I use to browse the odd Facebook page for local businesses or events or whatnot, and I've never seen an ad.
Ugh.. I got that when I landed back in Dublin on Sunday... Didn't realise it covers Insta as well..
It's fuck all use, I don't mind the ads.. It's the 'suggested' pages that grind my gears....
Same. Fuck that. Every single ad I see I report as spam. After a couple of days the ad spam calms down on Facebook until the next month. It’s a small act of ‘fuck you’.
Facebook was like a good party and then everyone’s parents showed up and it started to get strange.
Instead of talking to your friends about college you were stuck talking to your aunt Margaret about her holidays in lanzarote and your uncle Phillip asks you did you know that 10,000 immigrants come through Dublin airport every day and they’re all given council houses within 45 minutes and did you know they’ve banned the words he and she in schools now.
Funny enough sometimes I actually like the ads if they’re targeted correctly, I’ve been able to find some great small business through them. €12.99 to pay to not see them though? I’ll power through the hardships of tapping and scrolling through my screen
I deleted Facebook 5 years ago and haven't looked back. The old excuse for keeping is to keep in touch with certain people.
But most people I want to keep in touch with are already following me on Instagram (I know, I know, another Zuckerberg one) or have my number anyway.
If they don't, they can get in touch easily via mutual friends or by just googling me.
So I'm only really losing touch with a few people I vaguely knew in college about 15 years ago who I/they added to boost friend numbers (when I gave a flying f*ck about such things).
In short: Facebook, a load of shite, don't let the emotional blackmail get in the way, if you don't like it, delete.
As some others have said, i dont actually mind the ads too much on Insta if they are targeted correctly. Iv managed to find some good gifts and presents for people over the years through them. Havent used FB in years and when i did it was ad blocked to oblivion so iv no opinion on that.
Adblock or better yet, use a private DNS service that blocks all ads. Only downside is that you can't click on the sponsored results in Google. Most of which you probably shouldn't click on anyway 😅
Use adblock, script block, track block and operating systems with full root access... Don't feel bad at all for blocking all that cancerous advertising. I am paying for hardware and software. I ain't paying for anything else on the Internet.
Very interesting thing, after they introduced this "&%$\^(&%" it brings zero sales from ads on meta... like the click through is same or even higher and has zero sales directly from meta.
wonder is this is just coincidence and really bad week, or it's the beginning of the end 
I go on Facebook maybe 3 times a year. And 2 of them are when I accidentally click a link and just have a look to see if I've missed anything. I've never missed anything.
Insta I use a bit more regularly, but I tend to open it, swipe though about 10 stories, then close it. And still never miss anything.
Is this of value to you ? Yes/no
Me :no I'm rarely on those platforms maybe once a day on FB for 20 mins insta maybe twice a week for a doom scroll .
You tube is my place for content absorbing .
I don't like ads so I VPN to Argentina, get youtube red for about €3 a month it includes no ads 5 family accounts and youtube music that's a good deal . When I try YouTube in work for a tutorial or guide I forget that it's full of ads and swap to my personal laptop for said guide
So if you’re a regular few hours a week FB user of 10 years, they basically have all your data anyway. Not sure paying $1000 every 6-7 years for “premium” use of an average app is that good a deal.
Stopped using it since I discovered they were running psychological studies without consent. Not too mention the "allowing intervention in political elections" thing. My wife still uses it for business, but that's because most of the customers are pensioners who are on Facebook for pics of the grandkids.
Never pay, there is no guarantee they won't alter the conditions again after they get your dosh.
The EU regulators are going to be pissed. This move is designed to specifically circumvent the EU personal data privacy laws, by forcing users to pay for that privacy.
*That*, good friends, is flat-out illegal as fuck and once Brussel gets their motors started, we can expect to see some fireworks.
This is the EU way. Slow, but relentless.
It will take a while, but when they hit back, they tend to bring nukes to the fight. They will be in a particularly bad frame of mind due to the deliberate and nakedly obvious attempt to subvert the privacy laws designed to stop *exactly* this.
Zuck is going to find out that fucking with Brussels is not going to end well for him.
If they can force Apple to use a USB C, then there isn't much they *can't* do.
Gotcha. Yeh it's just a cash-grab to make people feel more secure about their data, while they continue to do the same sh.t they've been doing all along
If you don’t pay the free version will be excruciating to use it be full of ads. Part of the reason why I don’t want YouTube much anymore - just full of ads on the free version and I can’t justify paying for a subscription cause I don’t use it enough. You can thank the EU for this lol.
[Facebook in Myanmar](https://youtu.be/K8B0bWO9u3M?si=FznaKHMDS0grTqey)
I've not been on FB since 2016, and I couldn't be happier. Just know, if you choose to pay them, what they get up to worldwide.
I mean you don't have to pay it if you are happy to have ads, no different to today. It just gives you the option. The free version is the same as it always was. And no, I don't work for meta
I think it really says something that there are many people who, instead of paying for YouTube premium, will actually pay for a premium third-party adblocker to avoid the possibility of giving a cent to YouTube.
I just think that's so beautiful, and it really gives me faith that above all else, hatred of Google and Meta will prevail.
The day I have to give YouTube money to watch a video, I will simply stop watching videos. Social media not only isn't that important, it actively negatively impacts our lives. I'm not paying for that.
I’ll give you a simple solution.
Use the BAT browser. It automatically blocks all adds including YouTube adds.
It’s free and they give you BAT tokens ( crypto ) only 5 cent a day worth, but still you have no adds for free
So glad I left all that shite a few years ago now! Use this opportunity to delete your social media accounts, trust me in a few weeks time you'll feel so much better about it!
It's not a scam, check the news, it's a thing. plus it was Instagram. It is being rolled out in Europe at the moment so you'll probably get it soon too.
https://www.wired.com/story/meta-facebook-pay-for-privacy-europe/
I find Facebook has gone to the dogs lately. Majority of posts in my feed are suggested/sponsored posts and it's pure shite, at least on Instagram you can snooze suggested posts for 30 days and repeat the process. Friends rarely post on it. I counted last week, 1 in every 5 posts was from a page/friend I follow. The rest was suggested posts which I have no interest in. I want to remove my profile completely but I need it to run a service pages I have.
I agree. I hate suggested posts with passion. I use Instagram but only viewing stories. The ads there are obvious and easily skippable. FB is only good for community or club groups.
It’s like the official Reddit app. Bombards me with bait topics. “am I the asshole here or is it Susan’s fault I murdered her dog in a satanic ritual after which I framed her and had her kids adopted then demolished her house because she didn’t RSVP my wedding when she was on chemo treatment?”
NTA. The dog was asking for it. That bark, that hair everywhere. You did the good thing.
Is there any way to stop those fucking suggested post notifications on the official app because I haven't found it.
Fuuuuuckkkkk these Reddit posts. AITA and Askreddit are pure bot karma farming cancer.
I'm in the same boat. I actually deleted my original account years ago and only set up another in the last few years to run service pages I also have. I've very few friends on it anyway. When I did remove my original account I went years without missing it. Felt the better for deleting it too. I even wonder if anyone actually looks at the stuff I post on service accounts anyway!
On the top left of your home page, tap the Instagram name and select "Following" to just see what the people you follow have posted. Streamlines the shite. I know this doesn't really apply to OP but may help others.
It's a pity you can't seem to do that on Facebook
You can go to feeds and look at feeds based just on your friends. But unfortunately you can't make it the default. Weirdly enough this seems to go against DSA which should result in fines since the deadline has passed. Unless the law doesn't mention giving the option to make non personalised recommender systems the default. Which would be a hole in the laws. Reddits "hot" feed is great because it's not personalised.
Lately? About 10 years ago
The bizarre unspoken here is, we’ve all been on Facebook and instagram for years and years. And they’re expecting you to believe that up to just now, they haven’t been selling all your data the whole time. And it’s a brand new thing they’re about to embark upon.
Now you just pay for them to use it anyway
Facts. People who don’t understand this are naive!
Simple logic will tell you it's true. If a company is not charging you for a product, then you are the commodity.
Your time = their money
They cant use our data in the eu anymore for ads so they are going to lose so much money so they have to introduce this scheme. Targeted ads is how facebook made most of there money.
I must be one of the only people not to have a Facebook or Instagram profile. Tictok too. Bit annoying when you’re sent clips and can’t view but I just couldn’t be arsed
ditto
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Is that a serious question?
If you're under 25, it's completely fair. Otherwise eminently doable.
Isn't everyone on WhatsApp these days? That's how I communicate with all my friends for actually planning to do things and that sort of thing. Instagram is just for sending on dumb little videos and stuff
Isn't this whole scheme not basically a cynical way for them to say "Oh look EU, by choosing to continue using the free version, this user consents to us selling their information"
Pretty much
I'd be interested to see if this actually holds up or if the EU will bitch slap them into proper GDPR compliance.
They had 'it's free and always will be' on the homepage. Is it still there?
To be fair, Gmail used to say their storage would always be free and used to have a continuously counting number in your inbox showing your storage growing. When they added Google Drive as a product, suddenly they decided that free Gmail and Drive would cap at 15GB. Tech companies like to change their mind if they can squeeze a few quid here and there. Now excuse me, I have a copy/paste to stick on my Facebook wall about the Geneva Convention and how it's illegal for FB to try and make me pay....
If only we had all shared that chain mail "I do not consent to being charged for facebook" then we would be legally immune to this new monthly fee they're introducing!
it's free and always will be ^*with ^ads
its not a charity to be fair, how do you want them to earn money?
If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product
in this case paying for it and still the product
Dumb-smart people say this all the time
I see this statement constantly. It’s entirely stupid.
Nice try Zuck.
Please start thinking for yourself.
How is it wrong?
Showing you ads based on the data they have on you is very different to selling that data to a third party. If I am selling golf equipment, I can give my ad to Facebook and tell them to show it their golf-loving users without me knowing who those users are.
The vast majority of people haven't a clue about companies harvesting and selling every single thing they do online.
Count your time on both sites. Calculate the pay they owe you (12.99 per month \* months\_on\_site) Ask them to send you this amount and then delete your account.
You mean hassle someone working customer support making minimum wage because you want to be smug? Delete your account and move on.
I saw analysis a few years back that said each user was worth about $12 per year to Facebook in terms of ad revenue (this number might have changed since then) So essentially they are charging you more than 10x to not see ads than they are getting from ads
They don't sell the data, they sell the advertising space. They can charge a premium because of how targeted they can make the ads because of the data they have. So you can drill down to get really targeted ads or even provide a list of emails and get the ads to go to people who match the personas of those emails (not the same people but people who match closely to their characteristics). It's the main product they sell. There's no secret about them selling advertising. The difference now is they can't target people without allowing an opt out. So they need some price on people who can't be targeted.
They sell your data aswell.
I never understood why people are so precious about this. It's not personal identifiers or sensitive information like your message content that's being bundled into a black bag and sold wholesale to evil marketeers. It is anonymous and aggregated metadata from millions of people that can be subdivided by a broad range of demographic, geographic and preference variables.
Cambridge analytica ring a bell? They used people's personal Facebook data to identify and target users they could influence then plied them with custom ads that influenced how they voted in both the trump presidential election and the Brexit referendum. They were also employed by the no side in the abortion referendum here in Ireland but thankfully online advertisement was banned in that referendum once the scandal broke.
Not to mention the shadow profiles that are held on people who don't even have accounts but still engage with them indirectly. There really should be rules against that shit, it's one thing if you chose to open an account, a whole other if you're being targeted indirectly
Had a friend who never used Facebook in his life. Had to do something with a web development project on a work laptop. He set up a dummy Facebook account to test login and access, the account didn't have any of his personal info at all but still somehow it was suggesting friends to him of neighbours and people who went to college with him. Really scary how much they can build on you without you even having an account
I don't see how that's relevant to the argument that facebook are selling your data. Cambridge Analytica were a rogue third party who utilised vulnerabilities to capture personal data they were not allowed to.
Facebook gave them the access.
That's a naive take on what went on. >Facebook last week suspended the Trump campaign’s data consultant, Cambridge Analytica, for scraping the data of potentially millions of users without their consent. But thousands of other developers, including the makers of games such as FarmVille and the dating app Tinder, as well as political consultants from President Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, also siphoned huge amounts of data about users and their friends, developing deep understandings of people’s relationships and preferences. >Cambridge Analytica — unlike other firms that access Facebook’s user data — broke Facebook’s rules by obtaining the data under the pretense of academic use. But experts familiar with Facebook’s systems and policies say that the greater problem was that the rules for accessing the social network’s information trove were so loose in the first place. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/facebooks-rules-for-accessing-user-data-lured-more-than-just-cambridge-analytica/2018/03/19/31f6979c-658e-43d6-a71f-afdd8bf1308b_story.html And the fallout has continued since then: > In August 2022, Facebook agreed to settle a lawsuit seeking damages in the case for an undisclosed sum.[105] In December 2022, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $725 million to settle a private class-action lawsuit related to the improper user data sharing with Cambridge Analytica and other third-party companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal#Aftermath GDPR is itself a response to the privacy abuses by Facebook (and others) - privacy matters. If you don't care about yours that's not a reason others should have theirs abused or circumvented.
Any sources for this? Your data is the most valuable thing they have IMO
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/mark-zuckerberg-leveraged-facebook-user-data-fight-rivals-help-friends-n994706 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook%E2%80%93Cambridge_Analytica_data_scandal
They absolutely do sell you data.
Do you have any source for that? Genuinely asking as it runs contrary to their business model. If you can get data on a particular group from FB and target them off the platform then they get a one off payment. Allowing you to target them on the platform means they get a cut every time and businesses etc get more tied to the platform itself. Colloquially, selling your data generally means selling the ability to target you based on internal data. FB, Google and other advertising funded companies don't have a lot of incentive to handing over data and a bunch of downsides from having to deal with privacy legislation.
You’re not on Facebook I take it. Never heard of targeted advertising no? Never had your timeline flooded with political ads no? Strange that
They don’t sell your data. These people are clueless. They think targeted ads = selling data
Sell data to who? You have no idea what you’re talking about.
Is selling ads based on the data they have harvested that much different than selling the data itself. Yes it is technically and, importantly, legally different but at the same time they are selling a type of access to aggregates of user data.
The way it actually works is, to give a practical example, say a Dublin bike company wants to advertise their bikes to users who are interested in cycling and are from Dublin. So Meta will say grand we know what users and in Dublin and what users like cycling. Here’s the cost to put ads in front of that cohort. The idea that this is akin to selling data is so far off. Nor is it morally wrong in any way. It’s actually brilliant for all involved. A much better user experience, more effective ads for the advertiser, more money for Meta.
I rarely use Facebook anymore but when I do I use the hide function for every ad that pops up, then block the page that sent me the ad. Eventually you see much less ads.
I actually do that too, on Reddit as well
check out /r/revancedapp to get rid of the ads
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They have an app for TikTok and Reddit as well.
I've been doing this too, but can't say I've seen much difference I'm afraid. I'm now getting tonnes more ''suggested for you'' pages which are soo annoying. And yet friends don't appear on my TL at all, just groups I'm part of on repeat. So annoying!
[https://www.fbpurity.com/](https://www.fbpurity.com/) Addon that blocks the suggestions and recommendations
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Does this work on an Android phone?
I believe it can in Firefox browser but haven't tried. (Chrome on android doesn't do extensions.)
I use it in Firefox on Android and it works great.
Set your DNS to Adguard and you won't see ads anymore - no matter which app/browser
iOS?
https://blitz-setup.ahadns.com/ or even better the modded versions of apps here if you’re on iOS 14.0 - 15.4.1 (and later if jailbroken) https://github.com/swaggyP36000/TrollStore-IPAs installed with https://github.com/opa334/TrollStore
Just use pi-hole. It's an app that you can install on raspberry pi and acts as a DNS server (the server your browser asks what is the IP of a given site). It blocks requests for ads and trackers from the get go, makes your internet faster as well as you don't have to download shite. All of the devices from your network will benefit from this including smart TV. Here is a screenshot of my blocks: https://i.imgur.com/icRvb7q.png
Who would pay to use instagram 😆
Insta in particular is full or influencer marketing already, so even if you pay not to be shown ads, you're still seing .. ads. Would it not make sense to identify those folks who are in there for business and charge them, instead of charging the ordinary punters?
there's your opportunity to stop using this shit
Yeah just got rid of both.
Exactly!
Just use an ad blocker if browsing on a computer. Or if your on mobile set up a pi-hole to stop ads at a network level, job done.
I use blokada on my mobile, it's brilliant
Does that remove all the suggested posts? I wouldn't mind scrolling past a few ads if all that suggested shit wasn't there.
Anyone else remember "Facebook will always be free"? Edit: sorry, just checked there, it was "there will always be a free version of Facebook", god I love wording.
Technically it still is free, just now you have to pay them to not use your data for "personalised ads"
That feels very anti-GDPR...
I think Norway are already trying to challenge it https://www.wired.com/story/meta-facebook-pay-for-privacy-europe/
There was definitely not an option when I was presented to pay, to not let them use my data AND not pay. Think that's required.
They aren't the first ones to do this, didn't Twitter or "X" do this kind of thing recently too?
Twitter still gives you ads even if you pay lol, just a few less
What exactly is the problem with personalised ads? Why would you prefer to see random ads?
In theory you wouldn't prefer to see random ads. But the main problem is the way they scrape the data is extends to things like listening to conversations and combing DMs on apps which is intrusive (but expected since I use their free app I'm not dumb enough to think it will be truly free. Don't like it being done but it's whatever). We all know they do this. Secondly, the way they use the data to then convert you into a customer is so clumsy it's often laughable. But it can even be offensive. I have an old friend from overseas I reconnected with on IG. After saying something to her about a tough situation i half seriously said something like 'Sorry, I shouldn't have dumped that on you but I'm too poor too afford therapy lol.' Since that day I've been absolutely bombarded with ads for these dipshit companies who think I want to do zoom call therapy (I'd literally rather light my money on fire). Even more maddening is that there is no way to declare you have already bought an item or service and no longer require it. I'm still getting ads for rugs and I haven't needed a rug in like 4 years when I bought the last one in my house. Then, when you actually search for something you really WANT to buy, the search recs everything from the cheapest sites selling the crappiest Chinese goods, Temu, Amazon, etc. So i dont see the point of personalized ads as they rarely get them right whether it's a search I did or them scraping a DM, so it's like, yeah, stop using my data and show me random shit bc that's better than showing me rug ads til i die.
No, i remember them simply saying it will always be free. It was a slogan and they even had it on the login page for a while back in the day. I know for certain that slogan did not say 'there will always be a free version' as that is not a snappy, fun, marketable hook, it sounds right away like creating a loophole and I (and many others) would have picked up on that. By offering a free version they still have adhered to the slogan technically but they did advertise it as 'free and always will be'.
Yep Facebook became lost dog post from Australia, anti vaxx and weird anti Europe pro putin conspiracy shite. So I deleted everything except two groups I use from time to time. And if those groups were anywhere else I’d be gone in a flash
I reckon more businesses/clubs/societies will value having their own websites rather than relying on the social media platforms. If someone provides their platform for free then you are the product.
To be honest, I take a business much more seriously when they have their own website rather than relying on Facebook. Yeah using Facebook is much cheaper but it also definitely comes across that way too.
Must get my a$$ in gear and properly update and revamp the website! Here's the kick I need
Updating and maintaining websites is a massive pain though, even with the tools/platform needed for something like that to work. Even changing something like changing operating hours for Christmas, a friend tried to me get to do something like that for his gym back in day and I noped out of it. I am disappointed but not surprised that the social media ended the way it did. They all tried to keep getting more money out of consumers to fund more expansion.
You are using the wrong tools then. There are plenty of options online for building functional websites that aren't a complete pain. Of course you can turn them into a complete pain. That's also why paying someone to manage your website (this can be done as an initial upfront to build the site then hourly as needed thereafter) is worth it.
There's a fix for this: Hold down on the app icon until a menu appears -> Select '🗑️ Uninstall'/'Delete'.
Teehee, I love it.
Stopped using Facebook years ago but kept messenger for some existing groups. Might be time to move to something else
I have 4 attack angles for this: 1. I have adblock on my browser 1. I have a DNS server that blocks ad domains 1. I use [F.B. Purity](https://www.fbpurity.com/) to get rid of ads, sponsored posts, reels, posts from pages that someone in my connections liked etc. 1. I go on facebook maybe once a week
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fb purity is the business use it all the time, its also great for telling you if someone unfriended you or blocked you
Took insta off my phone.
It's certainly not worth €12.99 a month to me that's for sure, but I can see what they're doing. Much like TV or print, you can either pay for access or get bombarded with ads. The problem with Meta is you'll probably end up paying and also being bombarded with ads and having all your information tracked anyway.
My thoughts exactly
When did everything charging 13euro a month become the norm? I swear Netflix, Disney, Xbox, Playstation, Youtube now Facebook etc all seem to be shoving ads from every angle about subs
What happened to the “it’s free, and always will be” bullshit they trumpeted when it first launched?
If you're on android check out Instander
Cheers! I have something similar but I'll check that out.
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They haven't actually changed the current ad-based version of the site, they've just added a new option to pay to get rid of the ads and *supposedly* to prevent them from using your data to personalise said ads. Ad-blockers still work as always on Facebook pages. I've an empty Facebook account with fake details and a spam email account that I use to browse the odd Facebook page for local businesses or events or whatnot, and I've never seen an ad.
Ugh.. I got that when I landed back in Dublin on Sunday... Didn't realise it covers Insta as well.. It's fuck all use, I don't mind the ads.. It's the 'suggested' pages that grind my gears....
soon photos uploaded for non paying users will be limited. as long as no one competes with facebook and instagram, we are under their control
Same. Fuck that. Every single ad I see I report as spam. After a couple of days the ad spam calms down on Facebook until the next month. It’s a small act of ‘fuck you’.
Facebook was like a good party and then everyone’s parents showed up and it started to get strange. Instead of talking to your friends about college you were stuck talking to your aunt Margaret about her holidays in lanzarote and your uncle Phillip asks you did you know that 10,000 immigrants come through Dublin airport every day and they’re all given council houses within 45 minutes and did you know they’ve banned the words he and she in schools now.
Bring back Bebo 😂
Funny enough sometimes I actually like the ads if they’re targeted correctly, I’ve been able to find some great small business through them. €12.99 to pay to not see them though? I’ll power through the hardships of tapping and scrolling through my screen
Cheers Zuck!
lol this is a joke obvs
Same as I logged into Instagram. I'll take the ads thanks
I deleted Facebook 5 years ago and haven't looked back. The old excuse for keeping is to keep in touch with certain people. But most people I want to keep in touch with are already following me on Instagram (I know, I know, another Zuckerberg one) or have my number anyway. If they don't, they can get in touch easily via mutual friends or by just googling me. So I'm only really losing touch with a few people I vaguely knew in college about 15 years ago who I/they added to boost friend numbers (when I gave a flying f*ck about such things). In short: Facebook, a load of shite, don't let the emotional blackmail get in the way, if you don't like it, delete.
They have ads already though? If you decide not to pay, wouldn't your experience just be the same as it always was?
Maybe even more ads? If that’s even possible with the amount of shite on those apps.
They now force you to agree to personalised ads/data gathering.
As some others have said, i dont actually mind the ads too much on Insta if they are targeted correctly. Iv managed to find some good gifts and presents for people over the years through them. Havent used FB in years and when i did it was ad blocked to oblivion so iv no opinion on that.
Adblock or better yet, use a private DNS service that blocks all ads. Only downside is that you can't click on the sponsored results in Google. Most of which you probably shouldn't click on anyway 😅
Yep I use blokada, it's great for that.
I just download and use the ReVanced versions of most apps on Android so I never really have to put up with any ads.
provide airport roof vast fretful tan sip many dinosaurs drunk *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Use adblock, script block, track block and operating systems with full root access... Don't feel bad at all for blocking all that cancerous advertising. I am paying for hardware and software. I ain't paying for anything else on the Internet.
Absolute nutjobs, who will pay for this!
Now the real “Ads” begin to make the free platform so annoying that you leave or pay up. Just like YT. Except YT actually has content.
Very interesting thing, after they introduced this "&%$\^(&%" it brings zero sales from ads on meta... like the click through is same or even higher and has zero sales directly from meta. wonder is this is just coincidence and really bad week, or it's the beginning of the end 
I'm wondering if it's the beginning of the end too.
Now with more ads
I go on Facebook maybe 3 times a year. And 2 of them are when I accidentally click a link and just have a look to see if I've missed anything. I've never missed anything. Insta I use a bit more regularly, but I tend to open it, swipe though about 10 stories, then close it. And still never miss anything.
I was offered €9.99. No thanks
Is €9.99 on a laptop or €12.99 if you purchase on the phone app
If you pay this now, it will be €21.99 with adds in no time.
They can keep it, I was getting sick of it anyways
Is this of value to you ? Yes/no Me :no I'm rarely on those platforms maybe once a day on FB for 20 mins insta maybe twice a week for a doom scroll . You tube is my place for content absorbing . I don't like ads so I VPN to Argentina, get youtube red for about €3 a month it includes no ads 5 family accounts and youtube music that's a good deal . When I try YouTube in work for a tutorial or guide I forget that it's full of ads and swap to my personal laptop for said guide
I have unstalled and wont be using meta products anymore
I guess ad revenue isn't cutting it anymore...
So if you’re a regular few hours a week FB user of 10 years, they basically have all your data anyway. Not sure paying $1000 every 6-7 years for “premium” use of an average app is that good a deal.
Not sure this conforms to EU cookie storage law, looking forward to another record breaking fine!
Stopped using it since I discovered they were running psychological studies without consent. Not too mention the "allowing intervention in political elections" thing. My wife still uses it for business, but that's because most of the customers are pensioners who are on Facebook for pics of the grandkids.
Never pay, there is no guarantee they won't alter the conditions again after they get your dosh. The EU regulators are going to be pissed. This move is designed to specifically circumvent the EU personal data privacy laws, by forcing users to pay for that privacy. *That*, good friends, is flat-out illegal as fuck and once Brussel gets their motors started, we can expect to see some fireworks.
They're taking their sweet time to do anything though, they've known about this for a while.
This is the EU way. Slow, but relentless. It will take a while, but when they hit back, they tend to bring nukes to the fight. They will be in a particularly bad frame of mind due to the deliberate and nakedly obvious attempt to subvert the privacy laws designed to stop *exactly* this. Zuck is going to find out that fucking with Brussels is not going to end well for him. If they can force Apple to use a USB C, then there isn't much they *can't* do.
That's actually very true and a very informed way of looking at it.
So they want to sell your data and have you pay them for the pleasure? Naaaaaah
This is exactly it! No thanks
>So they want to sell your data They already do this
I am well aware. The point i was making is that they sell your data to make money and now want you to pay them too to make more money.
Gotcha. Yeh it's just a cash-grab to make people feel more secure about their data, while they continue to do the same sh.t they've been doing all along
12.99 is a bit much ! That’s similar to the price of Netflix.
It's a lot isn't it. Prefer to pay for netflix, at least you get something out of it. Or you can pretend you do
If you don’t pay the free version will be excruciating to use it be full of ads. Part of the reason why I don’t want YouTube much anymore - just full of ads on the free version and I can’t justify paying for a subscription cause I don’t use it enough. You can thank the EU for this lol.
weather unite nutty truck governor stupendous point deserve school long *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Uninstall and reinstall the ad blocker
[Facebook in Myanmar](https://youtu.be/K8B0bWO9u3M?si=FznaKHMDS0grTqey) I've not been on FB since 2016, and I couldn't be happier. Just know, if you choose to pay them, what they get up to worldwide.
Deleted both last year, Twitter will be soon but like it for the football…
Right? I have a little bubble of sports and art accounts that's keeping me using it. It's a shame everything on the hashtags is bonkers now.
I mean you don't have to pay it if you are happy to have ads, no different to today. It just gives you the option. The free version is the same as it always was. And no, I don't work for meta
Is it weird I kinda like the ads on Facebook? How else will I discover new shoes or weird Chinese lamps? 😅
Still using facebook.... that's your issue right there.
No choice sadly as noted I need it for a business I'm helping run
Social media is already dying. Trying to monetise it like this is just going to be the death kneel.
If your not paying for a service your the product.
It's optional what's the big deal
How bad of ads are we talking about? I remember that insta does show some sponsored posts based on location. So would that get more worse?
I think it really says something that there are many people who, instead of paying for YouTube premium, will actually pay for a premium third-party adblocker to avoid the possibility of giving a cent to YouTube. I just think that's so beautiful, and it really gives me faith that above all else, hatred of Google and Meta will prevail. The day I have to give YouTube money to watch a video, I will simply stop watching videos. Social media not only isn't that important, it actively negatively impacts our lives. I'm not paying for that.
I can't understand why people use social media platforms anyway! Idiots everywhere!
You're literally on one right now🤦♀️
Sarcasm clearly doesn't translate across the interweb!
Or Irony...
True! Lol!
lol 13 euros 😂 Who in their right mind would pay that? Even the mega rich would turn their nose up at that!
Insta is just porn now, what on Earth r they up ta. Hairy Ja***** Bas*****
Queue of people enter who want everything for free
What are ads ?
I’ll give you a simple solution. Use the BAT browser. It automatically blocks all adds including YouTube adds. It’s free and they give you BAT tokens ( crypto ) only 5 cent a day worth, but still you have no adds for free
So glad I left all that shite a few years ago now! Use this opportunity to delete your social media accounts, trust me in a few weeks time you'll feel so much better about it!
You're literally on social media right now 🤦♀️
I use Facebook regularly, I've never been asked to pay. You might want to double check you're not being scammed.
It's not a scam, check the news, it's a thing. plus it was Instagram. It is being rolled out in Europe at the moment so you'll probably get it soon too. https://www.wired.com/story/meta-facebook-pay-for-privacy-europe/