Meta Has Been Spying on Your Android Phone: Here's How to Stop It
1 min read
Summary
Social media giant Meta has been discovered using a new method of tracking users on mobile browsers, even if they are not logged into a Meta account, or have deleted their cookies.
The firm has embedded a tracker script into millions of websites which links mobile browsing sessions and web cookies with device identifiers by passing data to installed apps such as Facebook and Instagram.
This allows Meta to track users’ activity online and target advertising at them.
The discovery was made by an international team of researchers from Radboud University and IMDEA Networks, who have called the practice “invasive” and warned that website owners should obtain explicit consent from users before embedding such trackers.
The technique affects Android users via Chrome and Chromium-based browsers, but isn’t believed to impact Apple’s iOS platform.
