The ghost of Facebook pixel tracking on VPN websites is back!
Running a VPN service has a lot to do with building trust. Most of us are not really aware of what happens online, behind the binary shroud. We don’t know when we’re being tracked or where that data ends up going. That’s why trust is so important – mostly, we can only trust that a VPN is doing what they say. We have no means to infiltrate datacenters, hack emails, or engage in subterfuge to get to the truth. Watching Netflix is a lot more fun than playing David in his fight against the mighty digital Goliath!
Sadly, trust is brittle and VPN providers don‘t always play by their own rules. Recently, an unfortunate report made the rounds, demonstrating that many top VPN providers have a Facebook pixel on their websites. This means users‘ behavior on these sites is tracked and the data funneled to Facebook for marketing benefits. We‘ll get to why that‘s problematic in a bit, but there‘s some interesting history here. When the story broke (only a few months back!), many VPN providers mentioned in it quickly responded and removed their Facebook pixel. Time went on, the story stopped mattering, and, what do you know – Facebook pixels are in vogue again and so is tracking your behavior on VPN websites!
We’ve taken a look at the websites of our top 15 VPNs, and listed our findings below. Some are repeat offenders. They got caught the first time and quickly removed the pixel, only to reinstate it after the fire died down. These are:
Running a VPN service has a lot to do with building trust. Most of us are not really aware of what happens online, behind the binary shroud. We don’t know when we’re being tracked or where that data ends up going. That’s why trust is so important – mostly, we can only trust that a VPN is doing what they say. We have no means to infiltrate datacenters, hack emails, or engage in subterfuge to get to the truth. Watching Netflix is a lot more fun than playing David in his fight against the mighty digital Goliath!
Sadly, trust is brittle and VPN providers don‘t always play by their own rules. Recently, an unfortunate report made the rounds, demonstrating that many top VPN providers have a Facebook pixel on their websites. This means users‘ behavior on these sites is tracked and the data funneled to Facebook for marketing benefits. We‘ll get to why that‘s problematic in a bit, but there‘s some interesting history here. When the story broke (only a few months back!), many VPN providers mentioned in it quickly responded and removed their Facebook pixel. Time went on, the story stopped mattering, and, what do you know – Facebook pixels are in vogue again and so is tracking your behavior on VPN websites!
We’ve taken a look at the websites of our top 15 VPNs, and listed our findings below. Some are repeat offenders. They got caught the first time and quickly removed the pixel, only to reinstate it after the fire died down. These are:
- CyberGhost VPN
- SaferVPN
- ZenMate
- PureVPN
- IPVanish