How to Stop Instagram From Using Your Data for Ads and AI

Meta, Instagram's parent company, says it does not use a phone's microphone to listen to conversations for ads. Instead, retailers and other businesses may send Meta information about visits, purchases or interactions. Users can adjust a setting called Activity from other businesses in the Accounts Center to stop that off-platform activity from influencing ads, Feed content and AI responses. The feature has been rolling out since July 2026 and replaces older controls. Some accounts may still see the previous option, Activity information from ad partners.

On iPhones, users can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking and turn off Instagram's permission to block tracking across other companies' apps and websites. On Android, users should review app permissions under Settings > Apps > Instagram and deny access to location, contacts, photos, camera, microphone and other sensors. Disabling location removes one direct signal, but Meta may still estimate location from IP address and network information.

Contact syncing can be stopped via Accounts Center > Your information and permissions > Upload contacts, and users can delete previously uploaded contacts from Accounts Center on Instagram.com. Removal may take up to 90 days. Meta also shares data across accounts in the same Accounts Center; removing an account from that center disables shared logins and connected features but does not delete the account.

For Meta AI, the company began using conversations with its AI assistants as signals for content and ad personalization on December 16, 2025. Meta has not provided a separate opt-out for that use. However, users can type /reset-ai in an Instagram AI chat to delete that AI's saved conversation context, or /reset-all-ais to reset all AI chats. These commands do not opt users out of advertising, data collection or model training.