Switched from Chrome to Firefox after my kid's school project got weird ads

Used to think all browsers were basically the same. Then my 7th grader was researching volcanoes and every site had ads for backpacks he looked at once. Installed Firefox with uBlock Origin last month, zero targeted ads now. Anyone else get creeped out by how much stuff follows their kids online?

4 comments

4 Comments

carter.joseph9d ago

Has anyone actually looked at what permissions those school apps have on their devices? I helped my neighbor set up her daughter's school Chromebook and found the Google admin had location tracking enabled for the whole class. They don't tell parents that part in the handbook.

foster.jordan2mo ago

Good call on Firefox with uBlock, that's the exact setup I run for my family. It's wild how ads follow kids around just from one search. Also check the privacy settings on their school account if they use Google Classroom, you can turn off a lot of the data stuff there. Makes a huge difference.

aaronsullivan2mo ago

My niece's school iPad showed her toy ads for weeks after she looked up a doll once.

xena_bailey182mo ago

My friend's kid searched for a bike once and got nothing but bike ads on his school laptop for a month. They had to dig into the Google settings to make it stop.