Facebook video ads that call you by name, and Meta's new off-platform data personalization

AI-personalized dynamic video ads are rolling out on Facebook - including ads where the person in the video addresses you by your own name. One user described watching a salad-making ad in which the presenter greeted her by name mid-recipe.

Reactions are split between intrigue and unease. This level of hyper-personalization can feel like an encroachment on private life, though audiences may simply get used to it over time - and organic content may eventually follow the same path.

The age-old companion question resurfaces: does Facebook listen through our phones? Many people have had the experience of discussing something in person, then seeing eerily related content at the top of their feed hours later. Whether coincidence, profiling, or something more, it is a prompt to stay mindful about privacy settings.

Separately, on June 9 Facebook announced an update to how it uses information from other businesses. Beginning in July, off-platform activity - games you have played, online purchases, apps you use - will shape not just ad targeting but the content shown across your Feed, Reels and Meta AI interactions.

Meta's key points: it will use information businesses already share with it to personalize content like your Feed and AI responses in addition to ads; its controls are being streamlined by expanding the "Activity from other businesses" setting and discontinuing the "Your activity off Meta technologies" setting; and it says no new data is being collected as part of the update.

To review the setting: from your Facebook personal profile, go to Settings and privacy > Settings > Accounts Center, tap "Your information and permissions," then "Activity from other businesses." From that screen you can choose allow or don't allow. Many accounts default to allow - check yours and set it the way you want.