Facebook’s ‘Clear History’ Will Come to Users Later this Year

The much awaited security feature for users was first talked about by Mark Zuckerberg in 2018.

The much-awaited feature was first talked about by the company’s CEO in 2018.

(Photo: iStock)

Facebook’s long-awaited privacy tool -- "Clear History", which would let users erase their information collected by Facebook from third-party apps and websites, is now scheduled to come out later this year.

The information was announced by David Wehner, Facebook's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference being held in Barcelona, the media reported.

"Broadly, it (clear history) is going to give us some headwinds in terms of being able to target as effectively as before," CNBC quoted Wehner as saying on Tuesday.

The "Clear History" feature was first announced in May 2018 and was described as "a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook -- what you've clicked on, websites you've visited, and so on", by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The testing of the tool is being planned to begin somewhere between March and May 2019.

However, Wehner is concerned that the feature would impact Facebook's ability to target ads to audiences since the social networking giant collects data based on the user's location and preference history. It’s bewildering that after facing allegations of selling data for money, Facebook is still worried about the upcoming feature will cripple its revenue streams.

Interestingly, Facebook in 2018 had said it will take a few months to build the update, as it had to work with privacy advocates, academics, policymakers and regulators to get their input on the new approach.

And defending the reason for delay in launch of the feature, the social networking giant was quoted by BuzzFeed News last week saying, “we want to make sure this works the way it should for everyone on Facebook, which is taking longer than expected.”

"Clear History" was proposed by Zuckerberg in reaction to the company's Cambridge Analytica scandal last March and was announced publicly when it just an idea, the media reported.

(With IANS inputs)