Facebook’s Clear History Feature Lets Users Track Their Data Usage

The new feature was first introduced in August last year, and is now rolling out to all mobile users of the platform

Facebook wants to stop tracking its users. No, really. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Remember Facebook was going to launch a feature that will let users delete their activity history on the platform? That is now rolling out for everybody on mobile.

It’s called the Off-Facebook Activity tool that will let users disconnect their login identity from browsing history, so Facebook won't be able to track which websites its users visit. Talking about the tool, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook, through this blog post said, “Off-Facebook Activity marks a new level of transparency and control.”

User will be getting a message box on their Facebook News Feed, asking them to review their privacy settings. “The prompt will show up in your News Feed and direct you to the Privacy Checkup tool, which we recently updated,” Zuckerberg added.

The feature was first introduced back in August last year. Facebook said using this feature, users can see and control the data that other apps and websites share with them.

But how does this feature work, and what steps should be followed to enable this tool?

How to Enable Off-Facebook Activity

1. Head over to Settings in your Facebook account
2. Scroll down and click on Off-Facebook Activity
3. Find the ‘What You Can Do’ section, look for Clear History and click on it
4. You can also manage the tool to support tracking for future activities on Facebook

(Photo: Facebook blog post)

“We won’t know which websites you visited or what you did there, and we won’t use any of the data you disconnect to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger.”

Facebook <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2019/08/off-facebook-activity/">blog post</a>

In addition to this, Facebook is also offering the option for its users to get alerts whenever they login to third-party apps using their Facebook account.

Facebook Login lets users sign in to other apps and services, like games and streaming platforms, using the Facebook account.

Facebook <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2019/08/off-facebook-activity/">blog post</a>

“These notifications alert you when you use Facebook Login to sign in to third-party apps to help you stay aware of how your account is being used and edit your settings,” Zuckerberg added.

Facebook’s CEO also claims these features could have impact on its business but he is quick to assert that “giving people control over their data is more important.”