Meta devised an ingenious system (“localhost tracking”) that bypassed Android’s sandbox protections to identify you while browsing on your mobile phone — even if you used a VPN, the browser’s incognito mode, and refused or deleted cookies in every session.
This is the process through which Meta (Facebook/Instagram) managed to link what you do in your browser (for example, visiting a news site or an online store) with your real identity (your Facebook or Instagram account), even if you never logged into your account through the browser or anything like that.
Meta accomplishes this through two invisible channels that exchange information:
(i) The Facebook or Instagram app running in the background on your phone, even when you’re not using it.
(ii) Meta’s tracking scripts (the now-pulled illegal brainchild uncovered last week), which operate inside your mobile web browser.
Easy solution: dont have a Facebook account.
Don’t worry, Facebook still creates a shadow profile to know who you are and track you
I know all about this, but I’m at that point where I don’t give a fuck anymore. I browse the web with no cookies, and everything that Facebook has is a fake definition of who I am. It’s zuck’s own little world and it doesn’t concern me anymore.
zuck is a fucking pervert who masturbates to my own private information and I cannot do anything about it, so why would I care? I have way more important things to do (like taking care of my family), and people and politicians don’t want to do anything about it.
Sure it doesn’t affect you, but your data is an important statistic to train zuck’s algorithm to keep the other rubes, and children, doom scrolling on that shit platform.
In fact, based on a whistleblower testimony zuck would probably sell your data to the CCP to gain access to their population.
Its probably “better” to use apps like Hermit (Android) and Friendly Social Browser (iOS) for a more compartmentalized while still retaining a bit of the “proper app” feel if thats helpful to weaning yourself off needing to have every platform’s first party app and their inevitable tracking
Thanks for suggesting Friendly Social Browser! I’ve been looking for something like this since I’ve transitioned from Android.
Haven’t had an account since 2020. And I don’t use the site.
