"Facebook exhibits aggressive data collection, broad third-party sharing, and pervasive cross-device tracking with minimal user control. Primary drivers are extensive sensitive data collection, unrestricted sharing with advertisers and law enforcement, and indefinite retention without deletion guarantees."
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3 Privacy Improvements Available
Facebook Privacy Concerns & Scorecard
Facebook's privacy policy uses vague, ambiguous language throughout regarding data usage, retention, and sharing. Terms like 'as long as necessary', 'legitimate purposes', and 'applicable law' lack specific definitions. Users cannot determine what actually happens to their data or how it will be used.
Facebook systematically collects data from third-party sources about users without requiring direct user interaction or consent. This includes off-platform activity data, partner information, and behavioral data from external websites and apps. Data flows into Facebook's systems automatically to build comprehensive profiles.
Facebook shares user data with law enforcement and government authorities in response to legal requests with minimal procedural safeguards. The policy permits sharing when 'not compelled by law', suggesting discretionary disclosure beyond legal requirements. Data shared includes message content, metadata, and behavioral profiles.
Facebook implements pervasive cross-device, cross-site behavioral tracking and retargeting. The company automatically processes all user information to assess interests and automatically matches users to advertiser targeting. Tracking occurs through cookies, device identifiers, and behavioral signals regardless of whether users are logged in.
Facebook retains data on a vague case-by-case basis indefinitely for operational, legal compliance, and harm-prevention purposes. The policy provides no specific retention periods, deletion timelines, or user control over how long data is stored. Some information is kept for 'extended periods for legal compliance and safety reasons'.
Location tracking opt out
- 1On Android: Go to your device Settings, then tap Apps.
- 2Find Facebook in the app list, tap Permissions, then tap Location.
- 3Toggle Location Services off to prevent Facebook from accessing your location.
- 4On iPhone: Go to your device Settings, find Facebook, tap Location, and select 'Never' to deny location access.
Profile visibility control
- 1At the top of your Feed or profile, click the text box next to your profile picture to create a post.
- 2Below your name, click the audience selector (e.g., 'Friends').
- 3Choose the audience you'd like to see your content: Friends, Public, Only Me, or a custom list.
- 4To limit all past posts at once, go to Settings, then Privacy Settings, and select 'Limit Past Posts' to restrict previously public posts to Friends only.
- 5Visit Profile and Tagging settings to manage who can see what others post on your profile and who can see content you're tagged in.
Ai training opt out
- 1Go to Facebook Settings and navigate to 'Your Facebook Information' or visit the Meta Privacy Center.
- 2Look for the option related to generative AI data use or 'Right to Object' (available in certain regions such as the EU/EEA/UK).
- 3Submit an objection form requesting that your personal data (posts, photos, videos) be excluded from AI model training.
- 4Meta will review your request and, if approved, will exclude your data from future AI training.
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Data Collection & Tracking
Personal Information Collected
Social features, friend recommendations, content personalization, and ad targeting based on social graph.
Inferred from user activity, content, and interests; used for ad personalization and user segmentation.
Transaction processing, fraud detection, and commerce analytics.
User profiling, ad targeting, fraud detection, and data enrichment without user interaction or consent.
Account creation, identity verification, personalization, and fraud prevention.
Personalization, location-based features, analytics, and ad targeting based on geographic location and location history.
Product operation, troubleshooting, compatibility, device fingerprinting for fraud prevention, and behavioral analysis.
Service delivery, location inference, network diagnostics, and ad delivery optimization.
Content personalization, feed ranking, advertising targeting, safety and security, AI model training, and analytics.
Voice feature operation, AI model development, training, and feature personalization.
Media upload, content recommendations, and feature personalization.
Cross-Platform Tracking
Facebook tracks users across third-party websites, apps, and devices through cookies, the Meta Pixel, device identifiers, and behavioral signals. Off-platform activity is collected and linked to user profiles to enable targeted advertising through Meta Audience Network on external apps. Tracking occurs even when users are not logged into Facebook, and data from off-platform sources is automatically aggregated with on-platform activity to build comprehensive behavioral profiles.
Tracking Methods:
Facebook Pixel
JavaScript code embedded on third-party websites that tracks user behavior, purchases, and page visits. Enables conversion tracking and audience building for advertisers.
Cookies & Similar Technologies
First-party and third-party cookies, web beacons, and local storage used to track users across sessions, devices, and websites. Enable persistent user identification and behavioral tracking.
Device Identifiers
Unique device IDs (IDFA, Android Advertising ID, MAC address) and fingerprinting techniques used to identify and track the same user across apps and devices.
Meta Audience Network
Facebook's ad network that tracks users on third-party mobile apps and websites. Uses Facebook user profiles to target ads and measure performance on external platforms.
Login with Facebook
Facebook authentication on third-party websites and apps that enables Facebook to track user activity on those external platforms in real-time.
Off-Platform Activity
Automatic collection of user activity on websites and apps that have not integrated Facebook tools but are visited by Facebook users. Off-Facebook Activity retroactively links this data to user profiles.
Privacy Policy Updates & Analysis
Video CDN server location changed for policy content
Updated July 2026
The video URLs for policy highlights have been updated to use a different content delivery network (CDN) server. The 'Collect' video moved from ord5-1 to hou1-1 server, and the 'Uses' video also moved to hou1-1. While this is primarily a technical change, it may affect video loading performance and data routing for users accessing the policy content.
Key Changes:
- Video thumbnail URL for 'What information do we collect?' changed from video-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net to video-hou1-1.xx.fbcdn.net
- Video thumbnail URL for 'How do we use your information?' changed from video-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net to video-hou1-1.xx.fbcdn.net
- Associated video parameters and asset IDs updated in CDN configuration
Video CDN server change indicates potential tracking infrastructure update
Updated July 2026
The video hosting URLs changed from 'video-sjc6-1.xx.fbcdn.net' to 'video-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net', indicating a shift in Meta's content delivery network infrastructure. While this appears to be a technical infrastructure change, CDN changes can affect how user interactions with video content are tracked and logged across different geographic regions.
Key Changes:
- Video collection tutorial URL changed from sjc6 (San Jose) to ord5 (Chicago) CDN
- Video usage tutorial URL changed from sjc6 to ord5 CDN
- Associated tracking parameters (_nc_gid, _nc_ohc) also updated in both video URLs
New agentic AI capabilities and personalization disclosed
Updated July 2026
Meta has added a new update banner explicitly stating the policy now includes details about 'agentic AI capabilities and how we personalise your AI experiences.' This represents a material expansion of AI-related data usage that requires user awareness. The policy effective date changed from December 16, 2025 to July 23, 2026, and users are directed to view details about these new agentic AI capabilities.
Key Changes:
- New banner: 'Updated on Jul 23, 2026' with link to details about agentic AI capabilities
- Policy now covers personalization of AI experiences
- Reference to new agentic AI features suggests expanded automated decision-making and data processing
- Users directed to 'View details' for agentic AI changes in subpage
AI & Data Training
Facebook uses your content to train AI
Below is what's used and how (if at all) you can object.
What Content Is Used
Posts
User-generated posts and publicly shared content used for AI model training
Comments
User comments on posts and content used for AI training
Audio Content
Audio recordings and voice data from voice-enabled features used for AI training
Voice Recordings
Voice data collected from voice-enabled features processed for AI model development
Messages
Message content and metadata processed for AI training and feature development
How to Object
No opt-out available
This service does not currently provide a public way to opt out of AI training.
Why We Analyzed Facebook
TrueTerms automatically audits privacy policies and data practices using advanced machine learning to keep you informed and protected. This scorecard is based on the latest available public terms of service and privacy policies as of 2026.