Originally Posted by tomwed

Facebook uses the data you provide, such as where you live and how old you are, and combines it with geographic information from your phone to tailor ads to a certain audience. Facebook can charge more money the more specific the audience is. "With our powerful audience selection tools, you can target the people who are right for your business," Facebook says on its page about advertising.

How does Facebook do this without selling data? Advertisers choose the types of users they want to reach. Facebook can make the match internally to select the users to be shown the ads. In this case, Facebook isn't technically selling data, as it's all done internally. But without your data, Facebook wouldn't be able to offer such targeted advertising.


food for thought