ORG's new report exposes Meta’s intrusive profiling of its users.
With the introduction of Generative AI to Meta’s ad tools, existing problems with opacity will get worse.
Anna Dent, author of 'Profiling by Proxy'.
#StopStalkerAds
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Privacy over profits!
We're fighting back against Meta's use of personal data to sell ads.
Meta should give us options for opting-out of stalker ads. Until they do, you can use our tool to make this request.
Act now to #StopStalkerAds 
Open Rights GroupMeta opt-outIn March 2025, there was a huge victory for your data rights! Meta settled a four year court case with human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll. She had taken legal action to force the social media giant to stop collecting and processing her personal data for advertising purposes. Meta have agreed to stop profiling Tanya – and now it’s your turn to say no to stalker ads! If you use any Meta products – Facebook, Instagram, Meta Quest or VR, Threads or WhatsApp – you can use our tool to request that they no longer collect or process your data for advertising.
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By further automating ad audience selection on Meta with GenAI, we'll have less chance of understanding why certain people are seeing which ads.
It may also make it even harder to detect the use of proxy data that let advertisers dodge anti-discrimination or data processing laws.
Don't you know that you're toxic... Meta goes from ghosting to gaslighting.
After our direct action last week, Meta is now replying to 10k requests to opt out of Stalker Ads.
And it's a fudge... they talk about not using personal data for some direct marketing. But don't mention targeted ads!
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You have a legal right to object to your personal data being used for the purpose of targeted advertising.
Meta even admitted they must respect this right when they settled Tanya O’Carroll's case against them.
So why gaslight the rest of us?
TechCrunch · Meta settles UK 'right to object to ad-tracking' lawsuit by agreeing not to track plaintiff | TechCrunchA human rights campaigner, Tanya O'Carroll, has succeeded in forcing social media giant Meta not to use her data for targeted advertising. The agreement
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Meta must change how it does business away from profiteering on the back of our personal data.
Instead, our report suggests other advertising models that can respect our rights, like contextual advertising or subscriptions for advertisers.
Open Rights GroupMeta’s Consent or Pay Must Not Allow Stalker Ads, Report ArguesNo excuses for not changing Meta business model
A new report by digital campaigners, Open Rights Group urges Meta to amend its business model to comply with data protection law.
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It's up to us if we want targeted advertising or not. It's about consent.
Meta's attempt to gaslight us in the hope we'll get tired or confused is another tactic to uphold an advertising model that isn't operating lawfully.
Tell Meta #StopStalkerAds (UK residents)
Open Rights GroupMeta opt-outIn March 2025, there was a huge victory for your data rights! Meta settled a four year court case with human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll. She had taken legal action to force the social media giant to stop collecting and processing her personal data for advertising purposes. Meta have agreed to stop profiling Tanya – and now it’s your turn to say no to stalker ads! If you use any Meta products – Facebook, Instagram, Meta Quest or VR, Threads or WhatsApp – you can use our tool to request that they no longer collect or process your data for advertising.
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Meta profits by using your personal data for advertising.
By crunching your data into profiles, you become a target for advertisers and a cash cow for Meta.
Their latest attempt to claim to have honoured people's opt out request while ignoring the actual issue is shady stuff.
Meta's murky ad system uses your personal data to sell adverts 
What we know about how ads are targeted isn't consistent. This means advertisers can use proxy data on the DL that can cause discrimination against users.
Read our latest report
Open Rights GroupProfiling by Proxy: How Meta’s Data Driven Ads Fuel DiscriminationData profiling, or behavioural profiling, is one of the most powerful tools in digital advertising, and generates billions of dollars of revenue for the sites that host ads.
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Your data, your choice 
In a recent case against Meta's surveillance advertising model, they conceded that users have the right to object to their personal data being used for targeted ads.
Use our tool to tell Meta #StopStalkerAds
Open Rights GroupMeta opt-outIn March 2025, there was a huge victory for your data rights! Meta settled a four year court case with human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll. She had taken legal action to force the social media giant to stop collecting and processing her personal data for advertising purposes. Meta have agreed to stop profiling Tanya – and now it’s your turn to say no to stalker ads! If you use any Meta products – Facebook, Instagram, Meta Quest or VR, Threads or WhatsApp – you can use our tool to request that they no longer collect or process your data for advertising.
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There are some targeting restrictions on special category adverts, such as political ads and ‘Financial Products and Services’ ads.
But mainstream ads, including gambling ads, have fewer restrictions. This lack of transparency on Meta's Ad Library means discriminatory practices can fly under the radar.
There must be more rigorous levels of transparency so Meta and advertisers can be held to account.
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There are many examples of discrimination and harm caused by profiling and ad targeting.
They include:
Gender discrimination in who sees job ads. Racial discrimination in housing and education ads. Predatory data collection and targeting by online gambling sites. Inappropriate products promoted to under 18s. Discriminatory and predatory advertising of credit.
Plus more.
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Proxies can be created by training an algorithm with historical data about user activity.
So associated characteristics can stand in for one that an advertiser wants to target.
This can reveal data which is protected by anti-discrimination and data processing laws.
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The Meta Pixel makes the situation worse.
The Pixel is embedded in other websites and sends data about their visitors back to Meta to be used for ad targeting.
So people with problematic gambling habits could be flooded with gambling ads.
Find out more
The Guardian · Revealed: gambling firms secretly sharing users’ data with Facebook without permission
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Meta must not have differing transparency between advertising categories to make sure it's advertising system doesn't fuel discrimination.
ORG is calling for:
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With great data comes great responsibility.
At least it should. Instead Meta sees its users as cash cows.
So reclaim your privacy! Opt out of your personal data getting used for profiling and targeted advertising.
Use our tool to #StopStalkerAds (UK residents)
Open Rights GroupMeta opt-outIn March 2025, there was a huge victory for your data rights! Meta settled a four year court case with human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll. She had taken legal action to force the social media giant to stop collecting and processing her personal data for advertising purposes. Meta have agreed to stop profiling Tanya – and now it’s your turn to say no to stalker ads! If you use any Meta products – Facebook, Instagram, Meta Quest or VR, Threads or WhatsApp – you can use our tool to request that they no longer collect or process your data for advertising.
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Meta knows a lot about its users, which is used to sell targeted adverts.
While there are restrictions on how audience selection tools are used to guard against direct discrimination, proxy data like interests, living arrangements or employment status give advertisers a work around.
The lack of transparency means people who are susceptible to gambling can be preyed upon with little scrutiny.
Bring ads out of the shadows!
ORG’s new report reveals that we know less about gambling ads than anti-gambling ads on Meta.
In a surveillance advertising system that collects and processes tons of personal data to target users with ads, this secrecy puts people at risk of discrimination.
Read our latest report
Open Rights GroupMeta Requires More Transparency About Anti-Gambling Ads Than Gambling AdsA new report by digital rights campaigners Open Rights Group (ORG) has highlighted that Meta requires more transparency about adverts that highlight the harms of gambling than about adverts that promote gambling.
Hey Meta, don't leave us on read 
Over 10k people have said no to Stalker Ads, so get them off our feed!
This week ORG joined Good Law Project outside Meta's offices in a joint action with People vs Big Tech and Eko to ask why they've done nothing 
You have a legal right to say no to Stalker Ads on Meta 
Use our tool to opt out (UK residents) 
https://action.openrightsgroup.org/meta-opt-out
Meta using 'consent or pay' to deal with the right to opt-out of targeting advetising isn't lawful.
We shouldn't face a paywall to exercise our rights or accept our data being packaged up for advertisers to target us online.
Read our report https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/consent-without-paying-alternatives-to-metas-surveillance-advertising-models/