[cubesnooper]

Tor is great at reducing tracking done by ad companies. I use Facebook and Reddit (a big chunk of my social media activity) exclusively over Tor.

Step 1, block all Facebook and Reddit domains and subdomains at the DNS level. This is not to prevent visiting the cleartext websites (I could just, you know, not visit them), it’s to block the Like buttons and Reddit share icons embedded in normal websites from tracking my browsing activity.

Step 2, bookmark the Reddit and Facebook onion sites in Tor Browser.

https://www.reddittorjg6rue252oqsxryoxengawnmo46qy4kyii5wtqn... ; proof: https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/yd6hqg/redd...

https://www.facebookwkhpilnemxj7asaniu7vnjjbiltxjqhye3mhbshg... ; proof: https://www.facebook.com/onion-service

These are faster and more secure than visiting reddit.com and facebook.com in Tor Browser (hidden services require fewer hops and have no exit node), and since they’re official means of accessing their respective sites, you’re less likely to get treated as a bot or banned for suspicious activity.

How well does this work? Pretty well, if the ads I get are any indication. Facebook and Reddit ads used to be highly correlated to my general browsing activity. When I first started doing this, I would still log in without Tor occasionally, and instantly ads would start matching my browsing activity again. Now that I’ve used these sites exclusively over Tor for years, the ads are either entirely random or based solely on my activity within the respective sites (which is exactly what I want), or they expose a privacy leak from something other than IP address or cookies (for example, it’s clear from the ads I get that my bank sells my credit card purchase history to Facebook, which has made me more open to using cash).

As long as Tor Browser isn’t illegal or dangerous to possess in your jurisdiction, I highly recommend downloading it and using it for mainstream sites that provide onion services. I wish more sites would provide them!