Facebook

Signal says Facebook banned its ad account because of these ads

Facebook really doesn’t want you to know what it knows.

by
Alex Gatewood
May 5, 2021

Image: KnowTechie

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A recent post on the Signal website discusses how it designed an entire ad campaign around how much data Facebook is collecting from its users. In addition, the company claims that Facebook shut down its account because of the advertisements, but the social media giant is saying otherwise.

Ok, so to catch everyone up, Signal released this news in a blog post on the company’s website earlier this week. The company’s plan was to deliver this ad campaign to Instagram users to show how data is shared between Facebook’s various platforms.

Because Facebook and Instagram use the same ad platform, all user data is compiled together across platforms, creating a giant pool of information gathered on individuals over time.

Signal’s advertisements were a very literal representation of how data can be used. The company targeted certain aspects of people’s lives, like where they lived, whether or not they were married, and even more specific information. One example given in the blog post points to the fact that a user is vegan and really enjoys yoga.

Though Signal has said that Facebook shut down its account because of the ads, Facebook has a different story. Facebook is claiming that Signal never tried to run these ads and that its account was not shut down because of the ads. Signal has since clapped back with more screenshots of the ban.

We absolutely did try to run these. The ads were rejected, and Facebook disabled our ad account. These are real screenshots, as Facebook should know. pic.twitter.com/6ZKiA6nr2e
— Signal (@signalapp) May 5, 2021

Facebook has been collecting huge amounts of data from its users, and that is not really a surprise. The fact that they really didn’t want this kind of transparency that Signal offered to its users is kind of sketchy, though.

With all of the negative press that Facebook gets on a regular basis, you would think the company would be ready for a little transparency with the public. Looks like Facebook doesn’t feel that way.

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