Adblock Plus: We'll Stop Facebook From Selling Your Browsing Data

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Getty/Dan Kitwood

Just two weeks after Facebook said it would start creating targeted ads with your web-browsing data, the popular browser extension Adblock Plus said it is offering a special "block" list that prevents Facebook and 6,700 other sites from tracking your online behavior, according to VentureBeat.

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"If you do not want Facebook peering into your browsing habits, just enable the social media tracking blocker in Adblock Plus," the company wrote in a blog post.

Facebook also offers a set of instructions for how to opt out of its new tracking platform, but as the AdBlock Plus team points out, Facebook's opt-out system relies on cookies, "which means: you'd have to apply it to every browser on every device you own; it may expire when you least expect it; and if you clear out your cookies you have to reapply."

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Comparatively, you'll only need to install the Adblock Plus extension once on all your devices, and enable the social media tracking blocker. Once you add the subscription "Fanboy's Social Blocking List" to the list of filter subscriptions (the information will auto-fill if you click the direct linkto the social media tracking blocker), you'll never need to check Adblock Plus again to ensure it's working.

Other companies' tracking efforts blocked by Adblock's browser extension include Twitter, Google, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

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