Facebook Is Probably Watching Most of the Things You Do on the Internet

Four Corners will televise its investigation tonight into Facebook’s tracking technology, Facebook Pixel.

A Four Corners (FC) report has found that Facebook can track your internet history regardless of whether you are logged in or not.

It does this through a technology called Facebook Pixel which businesses can embed on their site.

The code captures information such as what links we click on the website, how long we spend there and then sends it back to Facebook.

This allows Facebook to send targeted ads to users. Have you ever been browsing a site like ASOS and then suddenly, you see a ton of ASOS banners on your Facebook? That’s Pixel at work.

But FC has found that its reach is so much more than that.

FC spoke to a digital marketing analyst from MadHive, Adam Helfgott, who explained that they are tracking more than just what you click on.

“Facebook has sentiment analysis tools… As we are writing on Facebook, or talking to our friends, they are very well aware of our sentiment, our mood,” Helfgott said.

So, next time you YouTube pimple-popping videos or Google “how to boil an egg”, remember that Facebook is always watching.

Student Edge uses a Facebook Pixel for some of its audience insights.

Photo: iStock