How to Opt Out of Targeted Ads

To opt out of targeted ads, turn off ad personalization in the accounts that know the most about you (Google’s My Ad Center and Meta’s ad preferences), use the ad industry’s opt-out tools from the Digital Advertising Alliance and the Network Advertising Initiative, limit ad tracking on your phone, and turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser. You’ll still see ads afterward, but fewer of them will be based on what you do across apps and websites.

Targeted ads work because companies connect your activity across sites, apps and devices. There’s no single switch that stops all of it, so opting out means closing several doors. This guide shows each one, in the order that tends to make the most difference, and is honest about what each can’t do.

What opting out actually changes

It helps to know what you’re asking for. Most opt-outs stop companies from using your activity to choose which ads to show you. They usually don’t:

• Remove ads. You’ll see the same number of ads, just less personalized ones.
• Stop all data collection. Some companies still collect data for measurement, fraud prevention or other purposes.
• Delete data already collected. For that you need a deletion request, which some state privacy laws give you the right to make.

With that in mind, here’s how to opt out of ads that follow you around.

Step 1: Turn off personalized ads in your Google account

Google’s ad settings live in My Ad Center, which you can reach from your Google account or from the menu on many Google ads. From there you can:

• Turn off personalized ads for your signed-in Google account, which applies across Google services such as Search and YouTube.
• Review and remove topics and brands Google thinks you’re interested in, if you’d rather keep personalization but tune it.
• Limit sensitive ad categories, such as gambling or alcohol, if you want to see fewer of those.

Personalized ads also draw on your Google activity, so it’s worth reviewing that too. Our guides to Google privacy settings and Google My Activity show where that data sits and how to delete it.

Step 2: Change your ad settings on Meta

Facebook and Instagram share ad settings through Meta’s Accounts Center. Look for the ad preferences section, where you can typically:

• See which advertisers you’ve interacted with and hide ads from them.
• Review the ad topics Meta links to you and limit ones you don’t want.
• Control whether Meta uses information from its partners, meaning activity on other websites and apps, to show you ads.

The partner activity setting matters most, because it covers what you do outside Facebook and Instagram. Menus change often, so if you can’t find a setting, search Meta’s help center for “ad preferences.” For wider account privacy, see our guide to Facebook privacy settings.

Step 3: Use the industry opt-out tools

Many ad companies you’ve never heard of track you across websites. Two industry groups offer tools that let you opt out of interest-based ads from their participating members in one place.

Tool	Run by	What it covers
WebChoices	Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)	Interest-based ads from participating companies in the browser you use it in
AppChoices	Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)	Interest-based ads in mobile apps from participating companies
NAI opt-out tool	Network Advertising Initiative (NAI)	Interest-based ads from NAI member companies in your browser

The DAA’s tools sit on its AboutAds website, which is why many people search for “opt out about ads”, or simply “opt out ads”, when they’re trying to find them. You’ll also reach them by clicking the small AdChoices icon that appears on many display ads.

These tools work by setting opt-out cookies in your browser. That leads to some important limits:

• They’re per browser and per device. Repeat the process in every browser on every device you use.
• Clearing cookies removes them. If you delete cookies, which our guide on how to delete cookies covers, run the opt-out tools again afterward.
• Blocking third-party cookies can interfere. Some browsers block the cookies the tools need, so a few companies may show as not opted out. That’s often fine, because the browser’s blocking already limits them.
• They cover participating companies only. Firms outside these groups aren’t bound by them.

Step 4: Limit ad tracking on your phone

Phones use advertising identifiers that apps can share with ad networks. Both major systems let you limit this.

• iPhone and iPad: App Tracking Transparency requires apps to ask permission before tracking you across other companies’ apps and websites. In your privacy settings, under Tracking, you can switch off the option that lets apps ask, which denies tracking for every app. You can also review apps you previously allowed. Apple’s own personalized ads setting is separate and sits in the Apple Advertising section of privacy settings.
• Android: recent versions let you delete your advertising ID in the ads section of your privacy or Google settings. Once deleted, apps get a blank ID instead of one that links your activity. Older versions offer an option to opt out of ad personalization instead.
• Apps themselves: review location, contacts and other permissions, since some apps use that data for advertising.

Step 5: Send a Global Privacy Control signal

Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a browser setting that tells every website you visit that you don’t want your personal information sold or shared. In some states, including California, businesses covered by the privacy law must treat it as a valid opt-out request.

• Some browsers, such as Firefox, Brave and DuckDuckGo, support GPC as a built-in setting, and some turn it on by default.
• For other browsers, privacy extensions can send the signal.
• It applies to the websites you visit in that browser, so pair it with the account and phone steps above.

Our guide to Global Privacy Control explains how it works and where it has legal force. For the wider set of state rights, see do not sell my personal information requests.

Step 6: Check the other places ads follow you

• Other big platforms: Amazon, Microsoft, X, TikTok, LinkedIn and others have their own ad settings, usually in account privacy or ad preferences. Our guides on TikTok privacy settings and LinkedIn privacy settings cover two of them.
• Smart TVs and streaming devices: many have settings for ad personalization and for viewing-data collection. Look in the TV’s privacy or advertising settings.
• Your browser: blocking third-party cookies reduces cross-site tracking. Our guide to Chrome privacy settings shows where to do this in Chrome.
• Data brokers: brokers supply much of the data behind ad targeting. Opting out with them reduces the profile advertisers can buy. Start with our data broker opt-out list. Large marketing data companies such as Epsilon run their own opt-outs, as our Epsilon opt-out guide explains.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

Omar searches for a medical condition once and then sees related ads on every site and app for weeks. He wants to opt out of ads built on his browsing.

• First evening: he turns off personalized ads in My Ad Center and deletes the related search from his Google activity. In Meta’s ad preferences, he turns off the use of partner activity.
• Same evening: he runs the DAA and NAI opt-out tools in his laptop browser and enables GPC.
• Next day: on his iPhone, he switches off apps’ ability to request tracking and turns off Apple’s personalized ads. He installs AppChoices and opts out there too.
• A month later: he clears his cookies, remembers his list, and runs the web opt-out tools again.

He still sees ads, but they’re far less tied to that one search.

Common mistakes

• Doing it on one device only. Most opt-outs don’t sync between devices or browsers.
• Forgetting to redo cookie-based opt-outs after clearing cookies.
• Assuming ad blockers opt you out. Blocking ads hides them, but it doesn’t necessarily stop data collection or change your ad profile.
• Clicking “unsubscribe” links in suspicious ads. Use official settings pages, not links inside ads.
• Stopping at settings. Deleting old activity and opting out of data brokers removes some of the data that fuels targeting.

Where reputation comes in

Targeted ads are mostly a privacy issue, but the same data trail feeds the people-search and broker profiles that show up when someone searches your name. If you’re cleaning up ad tracking because you want more control over what’s known about you, our personal reputation management service covers the search side, and our online privacy tips guide covers the everyday habits.

Frequently asked questions

Can I stop seeing ads completely?

Not through opt-outs. They reduce personalization, not the number of ads. Paid ad-free subscriptions or ad blockers are the only ways to see fewer ads, and each has trade-offs.

Why do I still see targeted ads after opting out?

Common reasons include cleared cookies removing your opt-outs, using a different browser or device, companies that don’t participate in the industry tools, and ads based on the page you’re viewing rather than your history, which opt-outs don’t cover.

What is the difference between WebChoices and the NAI opt-out?

Both let you opt out of interest-based ads from many companies at once. WebChoices is run by the Digital Advertising Alliance and the NAI tool by the Network Advertising Initiative, and their member lists overlap but aren’t identical, so using both covers more companies.

Does Global Privacy Control stop targeted ads?

It tells websites you don’t want your data sold or shared, which covers much cross-site ad targeting. Where state law requires businesses to honor it, they must treat it as an opt-out. It doesn’t change your settings inside Google, Meta or apps, so use it alongside those.