I’m an expert and I know the truth behind Facebook ‘listening rumours’

FACEBOOK has long been accused of listening to people's conversations but there's no solid proof of it ever happening.

Experts have probed the site and never found any evidence.

And Facebook has denied it does such a thing too.

Yet many users report seeing adverts on the site related to recent conversations.

Well, it turns out Facebook doesn't need to listen to your conversations to get a good idea of what makes you tick for advertising.

Little do most people realise, each of us give away plenty of clues about what we like and dislike based on our internet habits.

Whether you like a video of a cat or merely stop at a post about washing machines, it all builds into an advertising profile on you.

So that's everything we click, watch, save, browser or engage with.

Not to mention, we provide things like our age and location when signing up to Facebook.

An expert has revealed what Facebook's system looks like for advertisers who want to target their products to the right person.

Advertisers can select everything from gender, age range and country, through to hobbies and interests.

"As an advertiser on Facebook that has been doing this for more than ten years, I can tell you they have a lot of stuff on you," TikToker says.

"If I wanted to find women between ages 31 and 52 in the US who have an interest in dogs but also have an interest in dog collars and are parents with pre-teens between nine and 12, I can find you."

So Facebook has enough ways to figure out what you like without needing to listen to your real life chats.

There's a way to see what Facebook believes you're interested in - and you can tell Facebook to show you less of this stuff.

How to see your ad preferences on Facebook

Go to the Settings and scroll down to Ad preferences.

Tap Ad topics.

Look for Ad topics that advertisers can use to reach you.

"Advertisers can reach you based on topics that we think you like from your activity," Facebook explains on the page.

"You can review these topics to manage what you want to see less of."

Tap Show all beneath it.

You'll see a full list of all the topics that interest you.

Tap each one and select See less if you want fewer adverts on that specific topic.

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