NOW, FACEBOOK WILL TRACK YOU - EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE FACEBOOK

Now, no one is safe from the prying eyes of Facebook - not even people who have never signed up to the social network.

Facebook announced this week that it will track non-users as well as users via its online ad network - using cookies, ‘Like’ buttons and other plug-ins on third-party sites.

The company has come under fire for privacy practices in some European countries - and is displaying a banner in European users’ news feeds to warn them of the change.

The company says its goal is to serve relevant adverts to people who don’t use Facebook - using the data it has on its 1.7 billion users to make inferences about non-users.

This approach is known as ‘lookalike’ targeting, according to The Verge.

‘Because we have a core audience of over a billion people who we do understand, we have a greater opportunity than other companies using the same type of mechanism,’ said Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s ads and business platform.

‘Publishers and app developers have some users who aren’t Facebook users. We think we can do a better job powering those ads.’

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