Even if you don’t enter data into Facebook/Meta directly, they may be getting data from other games/music apps/etc.
How to check
- Navigate to the
Accounts Centermenu.- Instagram: open your profile page > 3 bar menu >
Settings>Accounts Center - Messenger: 3 bar menu > gear icon > scroll to bottom >
Accounts Center
- Instagram: open your profile page > 3 bar menu >
Your information and permissionsYour activity off Meta technologies
There should also be an option for Manage future activity
I use some apps to communicate with family, and clearly my privacy protections weren’t as good as I thought they were. I set things up a long time ago, so I imagine something changed since then.
I’m considering of either sending the apps to the work profile, or switching to only using them in the browser. If it’s because I connected my account to the other service at some point, I don’t know how to sever that connection now aside from dropping that other game/app/service
Or just stop using Meta services all together.
That’s probably what everyone using Lemmy would prefer to do, but some people believe it would negatively impact their ability to stay in touch with friends or family.
Ok, let me just cut off my entire family and friend circle out of my life just to stick it to some corpo that doesn’t even care about me. I sure showed 'em!
I mean god forbid using regular text and phone with them is out of the question.
It is for most scenarios in my life. And in many peoples’ lives I will wager.
For the people that are abroad I’d have to pay to call/text them each time, and I can’t even send them pictures/videos in a convenient way (no, convincing everyone to use signal just to talk to me is not happening)
And when my family/friends share photos/videos of important events in their lives that I care about I’d just have to accept I’ll be the only one missing out and be that awkward guy at family gatherings that’s all out of the loop.
And when my family is organizing events I would be the only one left out and have to convince someone to text/call me because I don’t want to be in the chat, being an inconvenience to everyone and also losing much of my input.
And I’m not even gonna mention how most workplaces and business expect you to be on WhatsApp.
And what would I get in return for being off WhatsApp? Nothing, that’s what. I’d just be seen as the weirdo that never wants to interact with anyone online.
Do I like meta? No. But avoiding everything they touch is not worth being a nuisance to everyone else around me. I’ve just learned to suck it up like most people do. It’s not ideal but it’s absolutely unrealistic to expect most people to get off whatsapp/messenger when everyone has been on it for like a decade now. It’s unfortunate but it is what it is.
And what would I get in return for being off WhatsApp? Nothing
That’s rich as you posted this in a privacy sub… lol
It is unfortunate that in my country, you pretty much have to use WhatsApp as it’s so common there.
While friends and family points are valid…
And I’m not even gonna mention how most workplaces and business expect you to be on WhatsApp.
What sort of clown job requires you to use whatsapps lol
Are they supplying you with a device when they “require” this?
Almost all jobs in which you have to interact with people, so most of them. I work in an office and i need it to communicate with clients, with my boss or coworkers, or with a government agency. You have to understand that WhatsApp is ubiquitous outside of the US. Here we never got free SMS, so WhatsApp became the default way of texting. Even people on iphones use WhatsApp here
If it is required for a job, then why is the job not providing it
Because not everywhere works exactly like the US? Besides the point, if you work at a McDonald’s, they are not going to give you a phone so you can text your manager. If you don’t have a means of communication you are not getting the job.
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And RCS on top of not being available in a lot of places, is a closed standard, no matter how Google tries to spin it.
No it’s not. Get the spec here: https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/technologies/networks/rcs/universal-profile/#download
Okay, and now find a messaging app that supports RCS that isn’t Google or Samsung messages.
Being stuck to 2 apps, one of which is OEM exclusive sure defeats the point, now doesn’t it?
Here’s a demo one that works on rooted Android: https://github.com/Hirohumi/RustyRcs/
(Also iOS 18+ Messages lol)
It’s not RCS’s fault Google locks down the API on their OS.
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Signal.
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The only SMS I’ve gotten in the last 5 years are the double authentication ones. WhatsApp is the default way of texting in many countries. Outside of the US, when you ask people to stop using WhatsApp, chances are you are asking them to give up texting entirely. Which you must realize is complicated to say the least
When everybody uses WhatsApp to communicate, which is a meta service, it’s a bit complicated to cut off communication with literally everybody in your country (work, friends, businesses) just to not use a service. It’s disingenuous to expect this without some sort of change within the current status quo. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t use any of their other platforms but has to use WhatsApp, because that’s literally the only choice
I’m glad Meta seems to be keeping most of the junk they have on Insta/FB away from WhatsApp*
^*so ^far
and all the things you find on this list, too
Direct link to the page in question
https://accountscenter.facebook.com/info_and_permissions/off_facebook_activity/
Thanks :)
And thank you, I wasn’t aware of that option :)
And, of course, they want you to login or sign up to be able to read that page.
It physically hurts me to say anything in facebook’s defence, but to be fair this is an account centre link to an account config page
I get that, and it makes sense. What pisses me off is that this is the type of information all users should have access to before they decide to sign up or not.
That sneaky shit is what made me start on the track of removing myself from all the mainstream networks out there.
Thank you for the tip, but is there any way to delete the activity data from Meta after de-linking?
I cleared it before I had a chance to look through properly. There should be a menu option when you look at the list
if I recall correctly, there is a separate link in the same settings area for deleting any data stored from off-site partners.
there isn’t, but as others have replied you can hide it from yourself
Sneaky, thanks for raising this.
darn. hidden in such a place!
and I couldn’t believe what I found in there. Apparently MongoDB, which I use only for my work, linked me with my facebook account. This is crazy.
Just opted out myself but there was a print saying that they will collect all that data anyway but it will be disconnected from our account. Like wtf is that even supposed to mean?
Some examples from mine if anyone is curious. I never use the fb sso or any of that shit, nor did I ever explicitly consent to any of these services sharing anything with fb.
- Spotify
- bookings .com
- ebay (haven’t touched my account there in over a decade but they still had data to send this year)
- windy .com
- duolingo
- tinder
- my bank
- opera
- sonos (I can’t think of any time I’ve ever even interacted with this one)
- samsung wallet (another one I never even set up)
- Uber eats
- calorie counter
- mediacom usa and euro (?)
Also, if you remove access via messenger app, it will show a confirm message without closing the screen. Clicking x goes back and it’s not on the list anymore. Whether they are actually leaving it disconnected or just hiding it, who knows.
Some of these services I didn’t use the same email that I used for fb, too, or any email at all.
Thank you! This answers most of my questions
The ones you never set up, did you ever interact with them in any way? Or did they mistakenly mix your data with someone else’s (which might even be a good thing tbh)
Most of them were cases where I wasn’t surprised they had data but a bit surprised they shared it.
I think my phone came with a sonos app installed, though not certain about that. I got rid of it if it was, though I can’t say if the most recent update from them was before or after that.
But a few of them I’m not really sure why they are on there. There was another one that I didn’t list that just had the label “IDK”, not sure if that’s a real name or “I don’t know”. I’m assuming they came from effective fingerprinting/tracking.
I might look into an addon that fakes some of the information the browser sends like OS version and resolution. Maybe that will make fingerprinting harder.
Whoah, thanks for that. I rarely use fb and while I knew that they collected and connected information anywhere they could, but I had only ever seen the main fb settings and turned those off as much as possible.
This is wild.
Oooh, thank you!
I wish I could stop using Facebook entirely but the only family I allow in my life refuses to leave. And trust me, I have asked for us to switch. Every time I send SMS it doesn’t get seen and she tells me to use messenger. 🙃
That was what I thought five years ago. I was on the verge of removing it, and the android Facebook app killed my phone’s battery, so delete it went.
And suddenly all my family drama stopped and if someone needs to get in touch with me, how surprising that they still found a way.
Convince them to use Signal, by far the best, end-to-end encrypted messaging app
Thank you! That was helpful to know
Mine was empty but enabled. Weird.
Is this also on WhatsApp? I got all the other Meta junk off my phone except that, since I need it for some family abroad
I think it is since it was a similar interface across the 2 I checked, but I don’t have WhatsApp installed to check that one
Thanks for the tip. I’ll definitely will do it myself. I do wonder if this is like the crosswalk button that only give pedestrians the illusion of changing the light
