How to See Which Websites Are Sharing Your Activity with Instagram

It's no secret that tech giants like Meta and Google are constantly collecting user information. Instagram , as part of Meta's services, also collects user data using in-app interactions, cookies, and Meta's Meta Pixel JavaScript, and uses this data to show personalized ads. Fortunately, Instagram allows you to learn more about the businesses and organizations that share your activity with Meta and disconnect them from your account.

Find out which sites share activity about you

Since Meta has seamlessly integrated its services, you can use the Instagram or Facebook app or website to access Meta's Accounts Center. The steps are the same. Before you begin, note that any changes made here will apply to Meta's other social media platforms.

Open the Instagram app and log in to your account. Tap your Profile in the bottom-right corner and open Settings . From Settings and activity , tap the Accounts Centre option under Your Account.

Navigate to the Account Settings tab, select Your Information and Permissions .

A new pop-up menu will appear, allowing you to interact with your account information. Select Your activity off Meta technologies .

This screen gives you more control over what information you share. Under What you can do , go to the Recent Activity setting to see a list of your shared activity entries. Meta may ask you to confirm your identity by asking for your Instagram password.

Here you'll see a list of all the businesses and organizations that share your activity and data with Instagram.

For more information about the shared data, click the entry list.

Under Transparency , tap the number of shared interactions.

One thing that's confusing is that the engagement numbers don't provide a detailed breakdown of the exact data points, but rather show examples of pre-established activity. This can be frustrating in terms of maintaining data privacy and transparency, but Meta won't share the level of detail you're looking for.

Even if you click the Download activity details button to download your activity file, it doesn't show the shared data.

Disconnect activity from your Meta account

While you don't have full control over these activities, you can still disconnect saved data from your account. To disconnect the data stream, go back to Your Activity and tap the Disconnect specific activity button .

Select the activities you want to disconnect from your Meta account and press Continue .

A confirmation pop-up menu will appear, showing more information about you and your third-party data. Before you tap Confirm , note that you will be logged out of any sites or apps you used Facebook to log in to. Additionally, Meta will prevent you from logging in with Facebook in the future.

It may take up to 48 hours for the system to disconnect specific activities from your account.

While Meta Account Center provides a glimpse into third-party sites and data sharing, the lack of precise data fields is disappointing. If you don't want to disconnect your activities, you may want to limit what Meta does with your personal data .

David Pac

Update 26 May 2025