Facebook Can Still Track You Even If You Turned Off Location Tracking

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A computer science professor from the University of Southern California has discovered that Facebook is able to track your location, even if you turn off Location Services from within the company's mobile app. In a post on Medium, Aleksandra Korolova explained how Facebook is able to identify where you are, and then use that information to target you with location-based ads. 

Even if you turn off Location Services and deny the Facebook app access to your phone's GPS, it can still determine where you are based on your IP address, information from the wireless network you are connected to and other Bluetooth devices in your vicinity. 

"The Location Controls provided by Facebook give an illusion of control over the data that informs one’s ad experience, not actual control. Moreover, Facebook makes false claims about the effect of controls," Korolova wrote. 

She said that she alerted Facebook last year about the issue through the social media company's Bug Bounty Program but they explained that it was not a bug and was "working as designed."

Korolova called on Facebook to give "users meaningful controls over the location information it collects" and to stop allowing companies "the ability to target small geographic regions" with their advertisements.

Earlier in the week, it was revealed that Facebook allowed major tech companies the ability to access users' private messages.

Photo: Getty Images


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