Have you ever felt like Instagram is reading your mind? You search for a product online or think about buying something, and soon, ads for that exact item appear in your feed. This isn’t magic—it’s how Instagram tracks your activity. The platform monitors your likes, searches, and even your behaviour on other websites to serve personalised ads. While some users find this helpful for discovering products, many feel uneasy about such extensive tracking, raising concerns about privacy and digital surveillance.
Take Charge: Limit Personalised Ads on Instagram
The good news is Instagram allows you to control how your data is used for advertising. You don’t have to accept personalised ads as a given. By adjusting settings in your account, you can limit or stop Instagram from using your information to target you with ads, giving you more privacy and a better social media experience.
How to Turn Off Ad Personalisation on Instagram
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Open the Instagram app and go to your profile.
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Tap the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner to open the menu.
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Select Account Centre, Instagram’s hub for privacy and security settings.
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Go to Ad Preferences and tap Manage Info.
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Under Activity Information from Ad Partners, select the option to stop using external activity for ad personalisation.
This tells Instagram to stop using data from other apps and websites to show you targeted ads.
What Changes When You Turn It Off
Disabling personalised ads doesn’t remove all ads from Instagram, since ads fund the free platform. However, the ads you see will no longer be based on your browsing history or personal interests. Instead, you’ll get more general ads based on basic info like age, location, and general content preferences.
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The result is a feed that feels less intrusive, giving you more control over your digital footprint and a more comfortable social media experience.