Is your uncle always posting? Snooze him on Facebook so his posts won’t show up on your News Feed. Click the three-dot icon (top left corner) on one of his posts and select Snooze [friend] for 30 days. Don’t worry, you can still pick Unfollow [friend] for a more permanent solution.
8 ways your phone is tracking you - That you can stop now
You understand that your phone knows where you’re located. This is how GPS works, how Find My sees your location and why you get local ads on Facebook and Google. Like other data on your phone, that location data is a hot commodity for internet marketers.
Thankfully, you don’t have to stand for this kind of data collection. These tactics are legal because the companies behind them give you a choice to opt in or out, but not everyone knows how to change the settings. We’ll show you how to stop your phone from tracking you. Ready to go dark? Let’s get started.
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1. Tweak your phone’s location settings
You can prevent iOS and Android from tracking you, but companies don’t make it easy. The feature is buried inside your device’s privacy settings and, by default, records your daily routine.
Known as “Frequent Locations,” it keeps track of where you are and how long you stay there. It even knows where you live and work based on how long you’re there and when you visit.
If you find this unsettling, you can turn the feature off. Here are the basic steps, but depending on your specific model and operating system, you may need to follow different instructions.
Turn off location settings on Apple devices
- Open Settings.
- Tap Privacy & Security.
- Select Location Services.
- Scroll down and tap System Services.
- Choose Significant Locations to see the logged record of where you’ve been and toggle it off.
You can also clear your history here by clicking Clear History.
Reset your social media algorithms
Still stuck in election season on your social media feed? Or maybe you bought one bottle of perfume and now Big Tech thinks you’re launching a beauty empire. Algorithms are smart, but they don’t know when you’re ready to get back to your regularly scheduled programming, like cat videos and memes. Here’s how to reset your feed and take control of what you see.
Ex-con man Frank Abagnale: why AI is a scammer’s new best friend
He was once considered one of the most famous imposters in the world. Now, he says, artificial intelligence is going to bring on a whole new wave of scams. Plus, a dangerous selfie fail, social media sperm donors, and robberies on Facebook Marketplace.
When Facebook launched around 20 years ago, you could “poke” someone in your friends list to get their attention. When did the poke go away and the “like” option arrive? Was it … A.) 2007, B.) 2009, C.) 2010 or D.) 2012?
⚾ Talk about a home run: A collector bought a trunk of old baseball magazines for $75 on Facebook Marketplace and hit the jackpot. Inside were rare Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson collectibles, including Goudey sheets worth over $35,000 and Bond Bread cards. Collecting baseball cards can be ruthless.
“Man cave on wheels”: That’s how Steven Shao described his Cybertruck in a viral Facebook post. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Cybertrucks turn heads, and that’s the point. The dentist says “loneliness” drove him to drop $100,000 on the over-the-top vehicle no one can ignore. Over 40 other owners commented they felt the same, which explains so much …
Facebook funeral scam warning
Scammers have hit a sickening low. They use real obituary details to trick grieving families into giving their credit card info for fake “services.” Plus, tech phrases we’re done with, insurance companies using drones, and why you need an outdoor TV antenna.
Meta killed over 2 million accounts this year: Scammers were using them for pig-butchering schemes. The fake profiles lured victims into bogus investment traps. These scams mostly come from Asia, where 300,000 people have been forced to work for criminals. But why did Meta let 2 million scammers make accounts in the first place? Because they can’t “afford” to hire people since they only made $40.59 billion in the last quarter. Silly me.
There’s no fun in these funerals: Scammers are creating 24/7 fake funeral livestreams on Facebook and tricking people into handing over their credit card info. They use real photos and details about a person who’s passed, then they ask for a card “to verify your location” and secretly set you up for recurring payments.
💔 Another romance scam victim: A 77-year-old Florida widower lost over $100,000 after falling for “Julia” on Facebook. The two chatted for eight months, and she promised to relocate from the U.K. to the U.S. after paying off a debt to a man in Minnesota. Hoping to speed things up, he sent cash to a home and a bank in Minneapolis. The twist? “Julia” wasn’t real — it was a 26-year-old man in Minnesota the whole time.
Channel your inner detective: Every Facebook photo has an ID number that lets you find exactly who posted it. On your computer, right-click on a photo on Facebook, then hit Open in New Tab. In the new tab, look at the address bar, and copy the middle set of numbers in the URL. Then, type https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= in the address bar and paste in the numbers right after the equal sign. Press Enter and bada-bing.
😚 Bye, bye, bye: When you see an ad you don’t want to see again on Facebook, look in the top right corner of the ad itself. Find the three-dot icon and tap Hide Ad.
🚨 Hackers’ latest Facebook tricks: They’re stealing accounts to post fake product listings on Marketplace or in status updates or stories. Or they’re using those stolen profiles to post that someone has died and they need money for the funeral. PSA: Have strong passwords and lock your profile so only your friends can see it.
Worth a try if your Facebook account gets hacked: Meta doesn’t care if your FB account is hacked. One woman had to use Facebook’s automated help page, which sent her account’s reset code straight to the hacker’s email. It wasn’t until she paid $14.99 a month for Meta Verified that she finally spoke to a live agent and got her account back.
If I could turn back time: Look up your first-ever post on Facebook. Open your profile on the web, click the Filters button above your own posts and then Go to. You can browse back to the month and year you signed up. Delete these posts if they’re too cringey, OK?
Meta’s hiding political posts: A woman who usually pulls in millions of views on Instagram saw her audience drop 63% after using the word “vote” in 11 posts. One in five American adults gets their news from Instagram, but Meta still directs its algorithm away from content related to laws, elections, crimes or anything else controversial (paywall link). Yup, it’s happening on Facebook, too.
“Facebook is so lit,” said no Gen Zer ever: Zuckerburg knows this, so they’re going all in to capture those younger eyes for more billions in ad revenues. They’re showing nearby events, groups and activity recs. Short video clips now look like TikTok, and friends can find profiles of people you can date. Just wait till Grandma sends you a DM like, “You have such a pretty face. Pull your hair back so it shows.”
Leave the oversharing to your aunt on Facebook: Some apps share your data with other people, not just advertisers. This includes big names like Google Maps and Venmo. Here’s how to change the privacy settings. (I wish I had room for all the steps here!)