San Francisco:  Following privacy concerns, social networking giant Facebook is set to stop using your phone number for recommending friends in 2020. According to a BBC report, users will soon have "a code sent to their mobile phones when logging in to make access harder for hackers". The change is part of Facebook's $5 billion settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and will come into effect from next year.

Facebook last year confirmed the use of users' phone number for targeting ads and stopped using members' security phone numbers for advertising in June this year. In March, the company faced backlash over its secure login process two-factor authentication (2FA) where it asked users to add phone numbers, which can be searched by advertisers.

In a statement, Facebook said it has been receiving questions about two-factor authentication and phone number settings on its platform. Reports emerged this month that Facebook has joined hands with top retailers who are sending the social networking giant data on what the customers are buying in retail stores. Facebook, in turn, is targeting those customers with specified ads.

Not just online shopping, Facebook is able to track what customers buy in stores and target those customers with ads, according to a Business Insider report.

Facebook makes almost all its money by selling ads. In the third quarter (July-September) this year, Facebook's revenue was $17.6 billion and ads contributed a whopping $17.3 billion of the total revenue.