As we discussed above, Meta’s data collection doesn’t stop when you leave the platform. If you’ve ever gone to a website that uses Facebook services—Like and Share buttons, Facebook Login, or the company’s invisible analytics tools—you’ve provided info on the stories you’ve read, the videos you’ve watched, and the products you’ve looked at.
“If those buttons are on the page, regardless of whether you touch them, Facebook is collecting data,” says Casey Oppenheim, a co-founder of the digital security firm Disconnect.
Millions of websites also use Meta’s hidden tracking “pixels” that give you no visual clue you’re being monitored. There’s no foolproof way to stop that surveillance—and no way at all through Facebook’s settings. You can, however, install an ad blocking extension such as Disconnect, uBlock Origin, or Privacy Badger on your browser to disrupt Facebook’s efforts to track you online.
The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind the Firefox browser, has designed an ad blocker specifically for this task. It’s called Facebook Container, and it uses a unique browser tab to wall off the social media platform from the rest of your online activity. It takes only a few clicks to install the Facebook Container extension for Firefox.
(Consumer Reports uses Meta’s services, too. For details on our data practices, consult our privacy policy.)
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