Facebook’s Deep Fake

In-app Instagram surveys catfish loyal customers

I am sure that it is not a surprise to anyone that Facebook.com generates 98.5% of its revenue from advertising, and that they own and operate sophisticated technology to tailor and target advertising to people with precision accuracy.

What you may not know is that Facebook impersonates other businesses to gather even more information.

Facebook tracks online purchases and uses in-app survey tools branded with the logo of the company from which you bought your goods to ask you further questions. The design makes it appear that the company delivered the survey, and not Instagram, but that company has no idea that its customers are being solicited.

Recently I made a purchase on a local company’s website (I cannot disclose the name for governance reasons). After I received delivery, as I scrolled through Instagram, a survey appeared in my feed. It was branded at the top with the company’s profile graphic and read:

“How was your purchase experience? Review your experience with [this Company] so we can improve the ads people see.”

Here’s what’s twisted: I always log out of my social media channels on my web browser. I’m diligent about my security, and block trackers with Privacy Badger (a Google Chrome…