Facebook expands tracking for ads

Facebook will begin looking at users’ activity on the rest of the Internet to better target advertisements.

“Today, we learn about your interests primarily from the things you do on Facebook,” the company said in a post Thursday. 

{mosads}“Starting soon in the U.S., we will also include information from some of the websites and apps you use.”

A company spokesman told AdAge that Facebook will not honor browser-based Do Not Track signals, which users can enable to opt out of cookie-based tracking in Internet browsers, “because currently there is no industry consensus.”

A process to find a consensus on a Do Not Track standard at the World Wide Web Consortium has repeatedly stalled.

The Facebook post pointed users to third-party controls, including the online ad industry’s Digital Advertising Alliance opt-out program for ads in Web browsers and in-device controls for ads in iOS and Android apps, if they want to opt out of the more targeted advertising.

“If you don’t want us to use the websites and apps you use to show you more relevant ads, we won’t,” Facebook wrote.

Facebook also announced a new “ad preferences” tool alongside every ad that will allow users to see why Facebook is showing them specific ads and further tailor their interests to receive relevant ads.

According to the company, the ad preferences tool will roll out to U.S. users “in the next few weeks,” and Facebook is “working hard to expand globally in the coming months.”