This week Facebook is announcing a new feature that will give users more control over the data they generate. Having established a reputation for its questionable privacy practices, the tech giant is hoping that the new feature will quell at least some of the concerns raised by users and lawmakers.
Called the “Off-Facebook Activity tool”, the new feature lets users view and delete information shared with Facebook by third-party apps and websites. According to a blog post by CEO Mark Zuckerburg,
“Other businesses send us information about your activity on their sites and we use that information to show you ads that are relevant to you.”
Presumably, this means clearing your history will stop pesky, hyper-personalized ads.
Facebook first announced that they were developing this tool in 2018, shortly after the Cambridge Analytica fiasco. In his blog post, Zuckerburg admitted that launch took so long because his company had to completely “rebuild some of [their] systems to make this possible.”
In addition to the Off-Facebook Activity tool, Zuckerburg said his company will also roll out a new login notification systems to help users keep track of all the accounts they’ve created using their Facebook credentials.
Facebook users can find more information about the new features via the recently updated Privacy Checkup page.