Facebook will soon allow users to check how their contact info is used for ad targeting

Facebook last year rolled out ad transparency page providing users access to advertisers’ credentials. While the company asked advertisers to pledge whether contact info of users uploaded for ad targeting was collected with their consent, the tool didn’t have a verification process, TechCrunch points out.However, as per the report, Facebook will soon release a feature that will make it easier for users to see how their contact information is being used by companies for targeting ads.

Starting 28 February, Facebook’s “Why am I seeing this ad?” button, which is available in the drop-down menu of the post in the News Feed will show when a user's contact information was uploaded.While previously “Why am I seeing this ad?” interface only showed details about the brand that purchased the ad, the new feature will show who (either a brand, agency or a developer) uploaded a user’s contact info, when the contact info was uploaded, and when the access was shared between business on its platform.A Facebook spokesperson told the website that the reason for bringing the feature is to help users understand how their information is being used by advertisers.Apart from making users more conscious of how their information is used on Facebook, the feature is believed to help the company underline those agencies or partners that are incessantly uploading contact information without users consent.Notably, Facebook in December last year announced several steps to make it easier for the users to identify the political ads and know who was placing it. The new feature is said to be likely initiated to extend the company’s ‘election ad policy.’While Facebook has been severely criticised for data breach, the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal plummeted the company’s reputation in the digital space. However, the California-based company now seems to introspect every step. Facebook recently introduced the unsend feature on Messenger that enables users to remove sent messages on the app.