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Study lays bare Meta’s intrusive data gathering for targeted ads

Facebook has anything but a clean record when it comes to the intrusive data gathering of its consumers. Now, data watchdog Consumer Reports has revealed that tens of thousands of companies send Facebook data on single users.

Your phone isn’t actually listening to you, don’t worry about turning your mic settings off.

When you’re sent targeted ads for something overly specific, it’s far more likely that you’ve been ingratiated into a lucrative scheme set up by an online browser or a social media giant.

On the latter, Facebook immediately springs to mind as a prime offender. Since the privacy debacle of Cambridge Analytica, Meta has lurched from one security disaster to another, most recently being hit with a $1.3bn fine for transferring the data of EU citizens to the US last May.

Has the social network been rehabilitated? Not quite, if recent revelations from data watchdog Consumer Reports are to be believed.