Secret menu shows what Instagram and Facebook know about you

You probably know by now that social networks rely on collecting large amounts of information about their users for advertisers.

But you probably didn’t know that you can access hidden menus that reveal exactly what some apps know about you.

For example, in the Instagram app, you’ll see everything Meta — the company that owns Instagram, Facebook, and the new character-restricted Threads app — has about you.

To access the menu where your personal information is hidden, you’ll need to go to Settings and Privacy in the app, then Accounts Center, where you’ll see your profiles on both Facebook and Instagram.

Next, go to Account Settings, then Ad Preferences, then Ad Topics, where you’ll see a short list of topics you’re interested in. Select View and manage topics and you will see your complete list.

You have to open a menu buried in the settings menu (Instagram)

There is a very large list of interests (Instagram)

If you’ve been using Facebook and Instagram for a while, this list will be huge – in our tests, the menu had about 500 interests, ranging from Guns N’ Roses to fruit and veggie juices.

With any item on your list, you can simply tap it and say whether you want to see more or less ads like this one.

There’s also a separate “Ad Settings” menu where you can adjust settings about which categories are used to reach you (although you’ll need to enter your Facebook password to adjust some of these).

Instagram claims that advertisers can “decide who matters most to your business and then reach them with customizable targeting options.”

Meta’s revenue of $116.61 billion in 2022 was driven by advertising sales on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

Paul Bischoff, security and privacy advocate at Comparitech tells DailyMail.com: “Instagram and Threads, like most other social networks, collect data about you in three ways.

“First, there is the information you voluntarily provide, such as the information you use to sign up for the account, your profile information, and your messages.

“It then collects data in the background as you use a service, such as your IP address and location, what messages and features you interact with, when and how long you use them, your language, and your device information.

Finally, social networks can obtain information from third parties, such as data brokers and public registers, and tracking cookies. When you use Facebook or Instagram, they place a tracking cookie on your device.

These cookies can be used to keep track of which websites you visit and communicate with.

“For example, if you see a Facebook Like or Share button or a Facebook comment section on a third-party website, those elements are likely tracking you on behalf of Facebook.

“They can see the advertising ID in the tracking cookie and log your visit to Facebook.”

He added: “Information from all these sources is combined to create profiles about users. These profiles do not contain directly identifying information such as your name or contact details, but instead assign you a unique advertising ID.

While the profile does not contain such identifying information, the information it does contain may be so specific that it pertains only to a single user. For example, third-party advertisers can target all profiles for users in a specific location or interested in a specific topic.”