Facebook admits it can track your movements and bombard you with adverts even if users turn OFF location settings

Facebook sent a letter to two US senators which contained the admission  

It can piece together a person's location based on various available information 

Facebook says there are many advantages to knowing where people are 

Tagged pictures, IP addresses and purchasing on Facebook Shopping provide clues to a person's location 

Facebook has admitted in a letter to two US senators that it can find out a person's whereabouts even after they have opted out of precise location tracking. 

The bombshell revelation went viral on social media with many decrying it as a violation of privacy, including  Republican Senator Josh Hawley who called for Congress to take action. 

Facebook stops tracking location data specifically when a user opts out but it admits that it can piece together various piece of information to determine where they are. 

Tagged photos or locations as well as addresses for purchases on the site's shopping section provide clues to where a user is, as well as IP address information.  

Facebook contended that knowing a user's whereabouts has benefits ranging from showing ads for nearby shops to fighting hackers

HOW TO TURN OF LOCATION SETTINGS FOR FACEBOOK  

Android 

For Android 10, users have the option to allow apps to access user location in the phone itself. 

Facebook background location setting was launched to help people see clearly if their location was being tracked. 

But this setting in the app may not always line up with the setting in the phone's core settings.  

If this happens, Facebook says it 'will continue to respect your most restrictive settings choice'.

if the phone and Facebook locations services are not in sync with one another. 

Facebook explains: 'For example, if a device location setting is set to “all of the time,” but your Facebook background location setting is off, we won’t collect your precise location information when you’re not using the Facebook app. '

iOS

The picture is clearer for Apple users, with there being three options for all location-tracking app, including Facebook. 

Users can select always, only when the app is in use or never.

In iOS 13, users also receive notifications from Apple showing when an app is tracking their location behind the scenes. 

These include an explanation why and a map of the location data gathered.  

It also means users can change the settings easily.    

The social network sent the letter in response to a request for information by two senators.

Facebook defended its actions by stating that  knowing a user's whereabouts has a wide range of benefits, including showing them targeted advertisements. 

Other bonuses include being able to fight hackers and battling misinformation, according to the Mark Zuckerberg -owned firm. 

'There is no opting out. No control over your personal information,' Republican Senator Josh Hawley said in a tweet blasting the social media behemoth.

'That's Big Tech. And that's why Congress needs to take action.'

The letter was sent last year by senators Chris Coons, a democrat, and Mr Hawley.

It wanted to know the details of how Facebook tracked users' locations, including when location access and location history are disabled.

'We appreciate Facebook's attempt to proactively inform users about their privacy options,' the senators wrote.

'However, we are concerned that Facebook may not in fact be offering users the level of control that the company suggests these settings provide.

'If a user has decided to limit Facebook's access to his or her location, Facebook should respect these privacy choices.' 

The letter was in response to a blog post from Facebook in September which attempted to clarify its stance on data collection from its users. 

Towards the end of this article, Paul McDonald, Engineering Director at Facebook, writes: 'We may still understand your location using things like check-ins, events, and information about your Internet connection.' 

After explaining their system to the two senators, the extent of this has been made clear.  

Facebook said that clues for figuring out a user's location include being tagged in a photo at a specific place or a check-in at a location such as at a restaurant during a dinner with friends.

People may share an address for purchases at a shopping section at Facebook, or simply include it in their profile information.

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The bombshell revelation went viral on social media with many decrying it as a violation of privacy, including Republican Senator Josh Hawley who called for Congress to take action

Along with location information shared in posts by users, devices connecting to the internet are given IP addresses and a user's whereabouts can then be noted.

Those addresses include locations, albeit a bit imprecise when it comes to mobile devices linking through telecom services that might only note a town or city.

Facebook said knowing a user's general location helps it and other internet firms protect accounts by detecting when suspicious login behaviour occurs, such as by someone in South America when a user lives in Europe.

IP addresses also help companies such as Facebook battle misinformation by showing the general origin of potentially nefarious activity, such as a stream of politically oriented posts which might be aimed at a particular country.

Facebook said recently that it is ready for a data privacy law that is to go into effect in its home state of California at the start of next year.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will give internet users the right to see what data big tech companies collect and with whom it is shared.

MailOnline has approached Facebook for comment.  

FACEBOOK'S PRIVACY DISASTERS

December 2018: Facebook comes under fire after a bombshell report discovered the firm allowed over 150 companies, including Netflix, Spotify and Bing, to access unprecedented amounts of user data, such as private messages.

Some of these 'partners' had the ability to read, write, and delete Facebook users' private messages and to see all participants on a thread. 

It also allowed Microsoft's search engine, known as Bing, to see the name of all Facebook users' friends without their consent.

Amazon was allowed to obtain users' names and contact information through their friends, and Yahoo could view streams of friends' posts.

As of last year, Sony, Microsoft, and Amazon could all obtain users' email addresses through their friends.

September 2018: Facebook disclosed that it had been hit by its worst ever data breach, affecting 50 million users - including those of Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Attackers exploited the site's 'View As' feature, which lets people see what their profiles look like to other users.  

Facebook says it has found no evidence 'so far' that hackers broke into third-party apps after a data breach exposed 50 million users (stock image)  

The unknown attackers took advantage of a feature in the code called 'Access Tokens,' to take over people's accounts, potentially giving hackers access to private messages, photos and posts - although Facebook said there was no evidence that had been done. 

The hackers also tried to harvest people's private information, including name, sex and hometown, from Facebook's systems.

Facebook said it doesn't yet know if information from the affected accounts has been misused or accessed, and is working with the FBI to conduct further investigations.

However, Mark Zuckerberg assured users that passwords and credit card information was not accessed.

As a result of the breach, the firm logged roughly 90 million people out of their accounts earlier today as a security measure.

March 2018: Facebook made headlines earlier this year after the data of 87 million users was improperly accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy.

The disclosure has prompted government inquiries into the company's privacy practices across the world, and fueled a '#deleteFacebook' movement among consumers.

Communications firm Cambridge Analytica had offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia.

The company boasts it can 'find your voters and move them to action' through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists.

'Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,' with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website.

The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends.

The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (pictured), after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump

This meant the company was able to mine the information of 87 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so.

This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box.

The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump.

This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK.

It has also suffered several previous issues.