Online ads are pesky. Especially on social media apps like Snapchat. Worse, with targeted advertising, your teen can get bombarded with the exact same, or related products, found on their browsing history. With that in mind, here’s how to block ads on Snapchat.
Disabling Targeted Advertising on Snapchat
While online ads are inevitable, targeted ones aren’t. Like Facebook and Google, Snapchat employs targeted advertising, or more specifically, behavioral advertising, to cater to its users. Behavioral advertising tracks an individual’s browser history to create ads for that user specifically based on products they’ve previously viewed online.
Since it closely follows user online browsing history, many believe behavioral advertising to be an invasion of privacy. If you agree and would like to protect your’s teens online data from Snapchat usage, here’s how:
- Open Snapchat.
- Tap the profile icon in the upper-lefthand corner of the camera panel.
- Tap the gear icon in the upper-righthand corner.
- Scroll to the Additional Services section. Tap Manage.
- Tap Ad Preferences.
- Toggle off Activity-Based.
Keep in mind this will only block targeted ads, not all ads on Snapchat entirely. However, by taking these measures, you can partially protect your child’s online privacy. You can also toggle off Audience-Based and Third-Party Ad Networks.
According to Snapchat, Audience-Based advertising relies on data gathered through other advertisers and partners who send their client list to Snapchat. On top of that, Snapchat also communicates with Third-Party Ad Networks by sending them user data (IP Address, Mobile Ad ID) that will help enhance ads people receive.
In spite of widespread parental anxiety over Snapchat and its policies, it’s still a very fun app teens can use to stay in touch with one another. With our parental controls guide, your teen will still be able to enjoy all Snapchat has to offer in a safe and secure manner.
