When setting up your Facebook profile, you can choose to self-identify your political beliefs if you want to share those with others. But despite this option, Facebook monitors your activity and can identify where you land on a political spectrum in hopes to better serve you ads.
After Facebook began receiving backlash for its involvement with data-mining, it’s no surprise that users have either chosen to delete their accounts or dig into the social network to see what information the platform has on them. As my brother first showed me, you can see which “categories” Facebook has placed you in when serving you ads that include your political beliefs, if you live away from your family, and even the last time you went on a vacation.
How to find what political information Facebook has identified
- Download the Facebook app
- Locate your information
- Remove a category
1. Download the Facebook app
As these instructions will walk you through finding your advertising categories through the mobile app, you’ll need to download the Facebook app from the Play Store. If you’re doing this from a desktop browser, you can go to the drop-down menu (top right corner) > Settings > Ads (left sidebar) > Your information > Your categories.
As one reader has noted, this option is not available in the Facebook Lite app. You will need the full app or visit the page from a web browser to view and remove your categories.
2. Locate your information
Open the Facebook app, tap on the overflow button on the far right side of the screen, and choose Account Settings. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the menu and select Ads. In this menu, first select Your information and then tap on Review and Manage Your Categories under the Your categories section.
This list shows you all of the different advertiser categories that you belong to. This include which month you were born in, if you still live in your hometown, if you’re an engaged shopper, and more. Scroll to the bottom of the list to see how Facebook identifies your political beliefs. You can either be Very Liberal, Liberal, Moderate, Conservative, or Very Conservative.
Use the images below for help if you get lost along the way.
3. Remove a category
Thankfully, if you don’t want Facebook using one of these categories to advertise to you or view it doesn’t match who you are, you can remove it. To do this, just tap on the three-dot menu icon next to each item and select Remove category.
An image of this process can be seen above.
If you have any questions, make sure to leave them in the comment section below or hit me up on Twitter.
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