Facebook users cannot avoid location-based ads, investigation finds

No combination of settings can stop location data being used by advertisers, says report

Facebook targets users with location-based adverts even if they block the company from accessing GPS on their phones, turn off location history in the app, hide their work location on their profile and never use the company's "check in" feature, according to an investigation published this week.

There is no combination of settings that users can enable to prevent their location data from being used by advertisers to target them, according to the privacy researcher Aleksandra Korolova. "Taken together," Korolova says, "Facebook creates an illusion of control rather than giving actual control over location-related ad targeting, which can lead to real harm."