Amidst the Facebook vs Apple privacy and ad transparency battle, secure messaging app Signal has run an honest ad campaign showing how much data the social media giant is collecting from its users for targeted ads. Unsurprisingly, Facebook did not like this move and ended up disabling Signal’s ad account.
Signal used Facebook’s advertising platform to buy some Instagram ads. Through these ads, the company displayed information collected about the viewer. “You got this ad because you’re a K-pop-loving chemical engineer. This ad used your location to see you’re in Berlin. And you have a new baby and just moved. And you’re really feeling those pregnancy exercises lately,” reads one of those ads.
Facebook, however, denies the claims and calls it a publicity stunt. “This is a stunt by Signal, who never even tried to actually run these ads — and we didn’t shut down their ad account for trying to do so. If Signal had tried to run the ads, a couple of them would have been rejected because our advertising policies prohibit ads that assert that you have a specific medical condition or sexual orientation, as Signal should know. But of course, running the ads was never their goal — it was about getting publicity,” says Facebook.
