Tag: Lee Rainie

The vast majority of users surveyed (74 percent) said they were not aware that Facebook lists their interests for advertisers and that these interests can be found in the “ad preferences” page on user profiles. One in five Facebook users (21 percent) report they are listed as having “multicultural affinity,” the Pew Research survey found. Of those, 43 percent were assigned an affinity to African-American culture and 43 percent assigned Hispanic culture, and 10 percent were assigned an affinity with Asian-American culture. Facebook is under federal investigation for privacy violations resulting from the Cambridge Analytica involvement. But it apparently has not communicated these tools well enough to users, he added, if only one in four users are aware of the ad preferences page. Osborne said Facebook often receives complaints from users that ads are not relevant, so the company tries to balance making ads useful while not violating user privacy. While we and the rest of the online ad industry need to do more to educate people on how interest-based advertising works and how we protect people’s information, we welcome conversations about transparency and control.” How to change your preferences: The list of interests Facebook thinks you have can be found under Settings>Ads>Your ad preferences. “We’re aware of the statement of interest filed and will respond in court; we’ll continue working directly with HUD to address their concerns.” Facebook still has a “multicultural affinities” listing on its ad preference page — meant to designate people who likely have an interest in a racial or ethnic culture, according to Pew. While Facebook has been the target of many investigations for such practices as of late, it is far from the only company that engages in these practices, said David Ginsburg, vice president of marketing at security firm Cavirin. “It really goes beyond Facebook and privacy,” he said.