Meta mapped surfing behavior of users of Facebook and Instagram with a secret tracking method

In addition to Meta, the Russian internet service would also monitor Yandex Android users in a far-reaching way, researchers from KU Leuven, Dutch Radboud University and the Spanish Imdea Networks discovered.

Watching would happen through so -called ‘Meta Pixel’ and ‘Yandex Metrica’. These are invisible pieces of code on a website that is loaded when visiting Facebook, Instagram or Yandex. This allows companies to check in their data or – and if so, how much – their social media advertisements lead to purchases.

Read too. Demi (25) made a nasty discovery on Facebook: “Picked photos of me, my husband and child. It’s going very far”

However, the researchers have discovered that those following codes, without the user’s permission, can also see what you were looking for and who you are. Even in incognitom mode. « This method circumvents the privacy protection that Android offers through consent institutions and even through the incognitom mode of browsers, and has an impact on all major Android browser, » reports Radboud University.

Eavesdropping since 2017 and 2024

Yandex would have been estimated to do this form of monitors since 2017. Facebook and Instagram would have been ‘only’ applied this eavesdropping method since September 2024. The number of people affected by this abuse is estimated to be high. ‘Meta Pixel’ is said to have been installed on around 5.8 million websites, ‘Yandex Metrica’ at 3 million.

« The developers in this report unintentionally use the possibilities of many browsers on iOS and Android in a way that clearly violates our security and privacy principles, » a Google spokesperson responds. « We have already made changes to limit these invasive techniques, have started our own investigation and are in direct contact with the parties involved. »

Read too. How do you not leave too many traces online? And what should you definitely pay attention to?

« We are in conversation with Google to tackle a possible miscommunication about the application of their policy, » says Meta. « When we became aware of the worries, we decided to pause the function while we are working with Google on a solution. » The Russian Yandex did not respond to questions.

Important detail: Iru to be listened to other meta apps, such as WhatsApp. It has also not been demonstrated that this Meta method led them to be able to watch in your internet bank app.