Facebook Drops “Treason” Interest Category for Ad Targeting  

It was revealed this Wednesday that Facebook has dropped the “treason” tag used to identify user interest for advertisers.

Danish state broadcaster DR published that the “treason” interest category tag can potentially be used by intelligence services in authoritarian regimes to hunt down subversives. DR also revealed that their sources said that the tag could have been used by Russian authorities to locate about 65,000 Facebook users.

A Facebook spokesperson said that treason was only given a historical significance, but since it is an illegal activity, they have removed it as an interest category.

Source: Reuters