How Facebook is Monitoring What You Do...

When you click on an "outside" URL in Facebook, for example this ad:

The browser URL looks like this:

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/17/remarkables-redesigned-e-paper-tablet-is-more-powerful-and-more-papery/?fbclid=IwAR1xz5K7idy1FhzROVUmPPLThvUkrSPKEGce7uGH93a2RIxDWIeb7fArqow

You will see this in the search bar where URL's appear in your browser (highlighted in BLUE):

The important part is this portion of the URL:

?fbclid=IwAR1xz5K7idy1FhzROVUmPPLThvUkrSPKEGce7uGH93a2RIxDWIeb7fArqow

This is a Facebook token that tells the site you are visiting, ReMarkable in this case, who and what you are.  Presumably Facebook get's paid for this.

The URL without the Facebook portion works fine by itself (https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/17/remarkables-redesigned-e-paper-tablet-is-more-powerful-and-more-papery/) - it just doesn't tell ReMarkable you came from Facebook.

If you try and get around this by right clicking the story and saying "copy link" you get a URL encrypted URL of the ReMarkable site that takes you through Facebook to the linked story:

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2020%2F03%2F17%2Fremarkables-redesigned-e-paper-tablet-is-more-powerful-and-more-papery%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1sgpvYg7QtCOdrbHgKYsMeb1CE47puwY3MtRATty5DSdunBSMHEcG2yOo&h=AT1U1jSllxJA_o6yIUaGynH-TnJ0U1TQE8rsfj-YSiELNGPZPqSPhdROwo0u4yKyXky1VTya0qinr_1e0LaiCPuVpUuEU5of5AwBL5FxvTnbU8R3paqg07HSDg7_PO8R5Y6lmmt65UBoMysJDlTEMu6B&__tn__=H-R&c[0]=AT1KVli6XCIbsIvffER7UO0WGhqRaniOqcivCYCK7JBPkukTNJG4mm-x4-WzlwMQdMKcBBgTJJiZBabz5qhxVt0Puy8YD9rs28EfDS8RpWX2wrxuUvEsLBPG_ahQ99dP90eBVB2m52bl1-72IgrNStLON91SJerGIEIrnjXnFzKKFzsk8c7bkhJjH8xGtICAbnh6jZEyJ_1_uHeD6jw5tfEeMOdoSa4lPiVnZJj6zbl8lyowVVvci73xZF_RneSAD1cEaVjwjlu3rf2TxSkjtFBRxN42KCEla9TPZRpZL2ymUc3qFDEcnz2YOWGxuYgEkrw4hUJ9aSlMSpSdS3G640c

Of course this also tells Facebook what you are doing.

If you want to skip putting money in Facebook's pocket right click (or whatever for your browser or phone) and use the "Search Google" for the same topic:

Since Facebook and Google don't get along the ?fbclid portion of the URL is stripped off (cause presumably Google wants to get paid instead and the advertiser doesn't want to pay twice):

https://www.google.com/search?q=SOCIAL.TECHCRUNCH.COM+ReMarkable%E2%80%99s+redesigned+e-paper+tablet+is+more+powerful+and+more+papery+%E2%80%93+TechCrunch+It%27s+no+secret+I%27m+a+fan+of+the+reMarkable%2C+a+tablet+with+a+paper-like+display+that%27s+focused+on+text+and+sketching+rather+than+rich+media+and+games.+The+sequel+to+the+original%2C+announced+today%2C+looks+to+make+a+good+thing+even+better.&oq=SOCIAL.TECHCRUNCH.COM+ReMarkable%E2%80%99s+redesigned+e-paper+tablet+is+more+powerful+and+more+papery+%E2%80%93+TechCrunch+It%27s+no+secret+I%27m+a+fan+of+the+reMarkable%2C+a+tablet+with+a+paper-like+display+that%27s+focused+on+text+and+sketching+rather+than+rich+media+and+games.+The+sequel+to+the+original%2C+announced+today%2C+looks+to+make+a+good+thing+even+better.&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

So there you have it...

You are being tracked and helping Facebook do it.

For this blog I always remove the ?fbclid portion of a URL - and you should too...