Social Media Advertising Decisions: A Look at Instagram and Facebook
Meta Inc., the company behind Facebook and Instagram, collects data for personalized ads primarily by tracking user activity and behaviour across its platforms. This data is used to train AI systems that optimize ad delivery, targeting users with ads tailored to their interests and browsing habits.
The personalization process can include automated AI adjustments to ad creatives and targeting parameters to enhance relevance for individual users. For users concerned about privacy and ad personalization, Meta offers several management options.
In the European Union, due to regulatory pressure, Meta prompts users to choose between continuing with ads that involve data tracking, subscribing to an ad-free experience starting at €6, or discontinuing use altogether. Users can also opt out of ad personalization, which reduces the amount of data Meta uses for targeting ads. However, even when personalization is turned off, user data may still be used to train AI models for general platform improvement.
Users can manage their ad preferences and placements through settings on Facebook and Instagram, adjusting what kinds of ads they see and where ads appear. Meta also maintains brand safety and suitability tools for advertisers, ensuring control over ad placement and content, which indirectly affects user experience with ads.
Despite these controls, awareness about the available privacy options, such as opting out of AI data mining, is reportedly low among users. Meta's approach balances personalized ad delivery with some user controls, but data collection for AI and ads remains a core part of their system.
In Instagram's Ad Preferences, users can choose to use Instagram with or without ads, decide between "personalized ads" and "less personalized ads", and can also close the selection window by clicking on the X in the top right corner. Similarly, to change Facebook ad settings, users can navigate to "Settings and Privacy", then "Settings", then "Content Overview", and then "Ad Preferences".
Consumer advocates criticize that data collection continues even if you pay. As of November 2024, free users of Facebook and Instagram can choose between two options for ads: Option 1 offers highly personalized ads with extensive analysis of usage behavior, while Option 2 offers less personalized, more general ads with more ad interruptions. Those who pay at least 5.99 euros per month on Instagram and Facebook will not have their information used to show them ads.
The decisions regarding ads are solely about whether and how your data can be used for ad selection. The process of deciding whether to pay or allow data use on Facebook and Instagram, as implemented by Meta, is currently being reviewed in various legal proceedings.
In summary, Meta’s data collection for personalized ads combines user activity tracking and AI-driven optimization, while users in many regions have options to manage or limit ad personalization via privacy settings or subscription offers, especially in the EU.
- In North Rhine-Westphalia, users can adjust their ad preferences on Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram, by navigating to settings and choosing between "personalized ads" and "less personalized ads," or even opting out of ad personalization altogether.
- Meta's data collection practices in the European Union offer users a choice: they can either continue with data tracking for personalized ads, subscribe to an ad-free experience, or discontinue use, with the added option of using technology like AI for general platform improvement even when opting out of ad personalization.
