How to minimise targeted ads on social media

Here's how

Short Text

We, like you, are fed up with how companies exploit data to target ads online. We’ve filed legal complaints over it, campaigned against it, called out empty promises, written letters, made gifs, formed alliances, and more. And we will continue this fight – but we need your help.

PI is often asked how to stop companies from targeting online ads at them. Everyday there are stories about how random political actors and random interest groups are trying to influence people’s thinking through online advertising. Social media platforms play a key role in targeting ads at you – and they facilitate the use of data in ways that you probably wouldn’t like.

There are steps you can take to minimise all of this – and by doing so helps show companies that you don’t want to be targeted with ads. These explainers shows you step-by-step how to reduce how companies are able to target you with ads.*

At PI we think strong privacy settings and minimal collection of data should be the default. We’re working to make sure that the way data is used by political actors and advertisers does not facilitate the breakdown of democratic structures – and social platforms are an important player in this work.

*Disclaimer – taking these steps will not solve everything. Data will still be collected by companies and will still be used in advertising. But these steps can help making the advertising less targeted, meaning that an advertiser, in theory, will knows less about you. On top of these recommendations, there are different tools you can use to prevent the tracking of your online activity such as ad blockers. These steps are a start – and it’s worth doing. 

What other companies do you want to know about? Are we missing something in our directions? Tell us!

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Explainer
It’s tough to minimise targeted ads on phones because ads can be delivered based on data from the device level (such as what operating system your phone is using or based on unique numbers that identify your phone), browser level (what you search for within a browser), and within the apps you use
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It’s tough to minimise targeted ads on phones because ads can be delivered based on data from the device level (such as what operating system your phone is using or based on unique numbers that identify your phone), browser level (what you search for within a browser), and within the apps you use
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It’s tough to minimise targeted ads on phones because ads can be delivered based on data from the device level (such as what operating system your phone is using or based on unique numbers that identify your phone), browser level (what you search for within a browser), and within the apps you use
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It’s tough to minimise targeted ads on phones because ads can be delivered based on data from the device level (such as what operating system your phone is using or based on unique numbers that identify your phone), browser level (what you search for within a browser), and within the apps you use
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It’s tough to minimise targeted ads on phones because ads can be delivered based on data from the device level (such as what operating system your phone is using or based on unique numbers that identify your phone), browser level (what you search for within a browser), and within the apps you use