How to Find out If Facebook Thinks You're Liberal or Conservative
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Do you ever feel like when it comes to politics, Facebook really gets you? That's not a coincidence. Facebook knows a lot more about your political leanings than you may think.
But that's okay. We're going to show you how to find out whether Facebook thinks you're a liberal or a conservative or somewhere in between — and how to change their settings if they're wrong.
Note: if you are not in the United States, this process may be slightly different. More on that below.
First, go to "Ad Preferences" on Facebook.
It's at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences. Make sure you're logged onto Facebook on a desktop or laptop (this is going to be harder to do on mobile).
You should see something like this at the top of the page:
Facebook - facebook.com
Then, find the "Lifestyle and culture" tab.
It will be under "Interests" and should look something like this:
Facebook - facebook.com
Next, look for a box that says "US Politics."
If you're not the U.S., that's where this process will be different, but you can probably make a guess as to which box it is, based on the others. The box will have your political leanings in parentheses. Mine is below, and Facebook correctly identified that I am "Very Liberal." Not surprising.
Facebook - facebook.com
When I hovered over the box, an explanation for the "Very Liberal" label popped up:
Facebook - facebook.com
If Facebook is incorrect about your political preference, you can click the "x" on the box.
Or click on the box and click the sad face:
Facebook - facebook.com
As Facebook explains, the types of ads you click on reflect what the social media site thinks your preferences are.
And it also looks at what pages you like. For example, if you "like" Hillary Clinton's official page, Facebook is obviously going to think you're a democrat or have liberal leanings, and will adjust ad content based on that.
Now, if only it were as easy to change someone's political opinion as it is to change your Facebook preferences, it certainly would save you from many exhausted arguments at family gatherings.
