> Does it really matter if they didn't sell your information if they just used it to show you the same ad they would have showed if they had sold your data?

On the surface, that's actually a quite meaningful distinction.

But, less so when you consider that businesses go in cycles, and one day Facebook/Google/whoever could get desparate enough to decide they need some extra cash... or they could go bankrupt, and have it auctioned off...

But, the data is ultimately only useful (legally) in order to spur clicking that you get a cut of, or to deliver a prominent message/ad. Does it really matter that it’s facebook that gets the cut rather than some faceless broker? I am still assaulted with ads targeted on my personal data, and with political ads that are obviously manipulative. That (political part) is the part that ultimately unnerved people, and that part isn’t going anywhere while ads form the basis of facebook’s business.

Data collection as a whole is certainly a booming market, but it allows facebook to bypass the very reasons they were called into congress: mass manipulation. Facebook is a platform of mass manipulation. Ads are just the polite name. All of us realize that CA is a small fish compared to the other data warehousing companies out there. Does congress?

What happens when your Facebook/etc data is used to deny you health insurance because you appear to be at risk for cancer? Or to deny you a job because you listen to the same style of music associated with a demographic that has higher-than-average rate of criminal records? Or to give you a higher home mortgage interest rate?

There a lot more people who would buy all the (normally private) details in Facebook profiles than you are guessing. Imagine if political advertising companies could purchase just one bit of it - say, your email address - from Facebook.

Targeting ads is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what could be done with the data if Facebook/Google/whoever gets more desperate for revenue.

How can they show me an ad if I don't have a Facebook account?

Two ways:

1. Facebook runs its own ad network, so you might see Facebook ads even if you never go to Facebook's website.

2. You might still go to their website even if you don't have a Facebook account. Many local restaurants and community organizations only have a Web presence through their Facebook pages.

Facebook Ads on third party websites.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/26/facebook-starts-selling-of...

Facebook runs an ad network (Facebook Audience - how successful, or how much used this is, I don't know though.

If you're visiting a site or using a mobile app served from facebooks ad network, you don't need to be on facebook or have a facebook account to be shown an ad.

From the post: "Facebook ads and measurement tools, which enable websites and apps to show ads from Facebook advertisers, to run their own ads on Facebook or elsewhere, and to understand the effectiveness of their ads."

By having data about you facebook can infer stuff about other people who are on Facebook and serve better ads to them.