> If you are an Instagram user and you would like to see which ad categories the platform has assigned to you, go to the settings menu in the app, then follow this path: Security / Access Data / Ads / Ads Interest. If the BBC wanted to be helpful, they could teach how to install uBlock Origin, instead of how to help corporate when their spying fails.
To be fair, as much as it doesn't help things, it is entertaining to see what Instagram thinks I like and is a feature I didn't know existed. I recently un-followed everyone besides the people I know IRL (so no more celebs, memes and instachicks) and, combined with the obfuscation software I use now, the ads suggestions are all over the place. For a male, 20-something year old nerdy engineer I apparently have a real…
Instead, they are an approximation of the underlying data, which is really used for targeting.
Have an a analogy:
I have a photo of a crime suspect. I would describe it as "man with beard in yellow jacket".
When looking for the matching person, I could look for all other men with beards, or I could go back to the original photograph and try to find a matching face. What's likely to give the most accurate result? Clearly the face matching. They show you the text though, but underneath they use the face for the actual targeting.