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Privacy policy

Meta

Meta Privacy Policy - How Meta collects and uses user data

D

Risk score

53of 100

Open the original (new tab)Company page

In short

  • Meta collects your activity, device info, and data from other companies to show you personalized ads across its products and third-party apps.
  • It keeps your information for as long as it decides is necessary for its business or legal reasons.
  • You give Meta permission to share your data with its affiliated companies like WhatsApp and various external partners.

What you accept

If you use this site

Everyday words for the material promises and rights you give up. Each line includes a quote from the document.

Fineprint cannot see whether you agreed. This page is posted on their site. Open the original if you need to know how they say it applies.

  1. 01

    You are agreeing that Meta will share your information with other Meta Companies, including WhatsApp, to provide a seamless experience and personalize ads.

    Other products, stores, or brands

    “We share information we collect, infrastructure, systems and technology with the other Meta Companies... include all the Meta Products covered by this Policy, plus other products like WhatsApp”
  2. 02

    You are agreeing to let Meta use your public content and interactions with AI features to develop and improve artificial intelligence tools for third parties.

    Other companies

    “Develop and improve AI at Meta for Meta Products and for third parties... Public content you or others create or share... Interactions with our features that are part of AI at Meta”
  3. 03

    You are agreeing that Meta will associate your accounts if you link them in Accounts Center, sharing your information between those services.

    Other products, stores, or brands

    “If you add a WhatsApp account to an Accounts Center with other accounts on Meta Company Products: To associate your accounts on Meta Company Products with your WhatsApp account in the same Accounts Center”

What it can cost you

Downsides we could quote

Quoted clauses that can affect your privacy, money, or right to go to court — including terms that follow you to other products.

Highest-cost clauses first

High cost

Tracking you across apps

You are agreeing to let Meta combine data from third-party partners about your offline and external online activity to tailor advertisements shown to you.

“We’ll use information that advertisers, businesses and other partners provide us about activity off the Meta Company Products that we have associated with you to personalize ads... whether or not you’re logged in or have an account”

What that means: Advertisers and partners can track your online behavior even when you are not logged into Meta, creating a detailed profile of your interests.

Meta tracks your activity on websites and apps outside of its own ecosystem using data from partners to build a profile of you for advertising purposes.

High cost

Indefinite retention

You are agreeing to indefinite data retention where Meta determines the length of storage based on its internal needs and legal interpretations.

“We keep information as long as we need it to provide our Products, comply with legal obligations or protect our or other’s interests. We decide how long we need information on a case-by-case basis.”

What that means: Your personal data may be stored for years or forever, as Meta determines the duration without a clear expiration date.

The company retains your data indefinitely based on its own subjective assessment of what is needed, rather than a fixed timeframe.

High cost

Location or sensitive-data over-collection

You are agreeing to let Meta process and analyze sensitive personal information you voluntarily share for research, analytics, and product improvement.

“Any information with special protections that you choose to provide, such as your religious views, your sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership”

What that means: Your most private personal details, including health and political beliefs, are processed by Meta's systems and could be used for internal metrics.

While collection is user-provided, Meta processes this highly sensitive category of data for analytics and product improvement, not just core service functionality.

Medium cost

Terms follow you to parks, stores, and other products

You are agreeing to the cross-border transfer of your personal data to any country where Meta operates its offices or data centers.

“We share information we collect globally... with our partners, third parties and service providers... Because Meta is global, with users, partners, vendors and employees around the world”

What that means: Your data leaves your local region and may be accessed by servers and entities in multiple different countries.

Your data is transferred to and processed in countries around the world, including outside your home jurisdiction, subject to varying privacy laws.

People also accept these terms in

The same company terms often apply on these apps or devices. This is a lookup aid, not a claim we caught this company.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Whatsapp
  • Meta Quest
  • Oculus

If these terms already apply to you

Keep this list. Fineprint cannot undo or cancel something you already agreed to at the company.

We cannot see Agree on their site. With Premium, tap “I accepted these terms” if you already agreed to what Meta asks.