Companies know a lot about you… often, it’s a lot more than you think. Let’s face it, when was the last time you really read the fine print on those Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies before signing off?
If it’s not enough that Facebook may be using your cellphone to listen to private conversations, now astute Facebook users are realizing that Facebook has taken a guess at your political stance and is targeting ads at you accordingly. Here’s how you can find out if Facebook thinks you’re a liberal, a conservative, or somewhere in between.
Does Facebook Say You’re a Conservative, A Liberal or In Between?
First, if you mention a political party on your page, right off the bat Facebook knows your political stance. But if you’re less obvious about it, it makes assumptions based on pages you’ve liked.
In an age where everyone is always on their screen and is actively engaging on social media, it’s easy to just keep liking pages that peak your interest. Little did we know that this mindlessly fun task is actually getting tallied and is making conclusions about our political views. This is why it’s important to review the privacy settings on your account.
According to the New York Times, politicians run campaigns targeted at particular groups. For instance, Donald Trump paid for his ads to show to people on Facebook who are classified as politically moderate when he was campaigning to be president.
Steps to Check Your Political Party
So, if you’re curious what Facebook considers to be your political stance, here’s how you can check:
- Once you log into Facebook, type this on your browser: facebook.com/ads/preferences
- It will bring you to “Your interests” page. Under the “More” tab, click “Lifestyle and culture”
- Look for a box titled “US Politics” and it will tell you what Facebook deems is your political party
Conclusion
With 1.7 billion active users on Facebook, there’s so much tricky business that can happen when a political leader can target groups of people using just one social media platform. Being aware of this now, it’s good practice to just be cautious of what you associate yourself with on a large network like Facebook. What you deem as private information may not be treated the same way on the back end.
