Here’s how to stop Facebook from tracking your web history

FACEBOOK has just announced it’s going to start tracking a whole lot more of you. Here’s how to turn it off.

(FILES) This January 30, 2014 file photo taken in Washington,DC, shows the splash page for the social media internet site Facebook. Facebook said June 12, 2014 it would begin allowing users more information about the ads delivered to them, and to block marketing messages they don't want to see. In a blog post, Facebook said its users "tell us they want more control over the ads they see" and that the huge social network is responding to that. "That's why we're introducing ad preferences, a new tool accessible from every ad on Facebook that explains why you're seeing a specific ad and lets you add and remove interests that we use to show you ads," the post said. AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIER

FACEBOOK just announced yet another way it is encroaching on your privacy. Starting soon, the company said on Thursday, it will use information gathered from other websites to figure out the ads that best apply to you.

Even your porn history.

But, to its credit, Facebook is also offering a way to opt out of its new data-gathering system. Here’s how to do so in just two steps.

Step 1: Go to this page from the Digital Advertising Alliance, a consortium of advertising trade groups. There you’ll find a list of all the companies that track your browsing to deliver tailored ads. Mostly likely, Facebook is among them.

Find “Facebook Inc.” under “Companies Customizing Ads For Your Browser” and check off the checkmark to the right.

Step one.

Then just hit “Submit.”

One important note: Disabling Facebook from tracking on one web browser does not disable it on all browsers. You’ll have to go through this step on all browsers you use to check your Facebook account, even those on the same computer.

Step 2: Unless you have an ad blocker, you’ll never get Facebook to completely stop using all of the knowledge it has compiled on you. But you can pick and choose some of the things that get thrown into the pile. Over the next several weeks, Facebook will roll out a new tool in the U.S. that will let you add or subtract interests, like “Television” or “Electronics,” that Facebook has attributed to you.

When this feature is made available, you’ll be able to access it by clicking or tapping the grey arrow in the top-right corner of the ad and then going to “Why am I seeing this?” From there, you’ll be able to edit your list of interests.

Step two.

Again: This second step will not be available for a few more weeks. And if none of this is good enough, there’s always the nuclear option of (gulp) deleting your Facebook.

This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post.