Here’s how to use Facebook’s new ‘clear history’ button to better control your data
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced a new tool this week that gives users better control over their own data and privacy on the social network he founded.
“As of today, our off-Facebook activity tool is available to people on Facebook around the world,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Tuesday.
But what exactly is “off-Facebook activity,” and why does it matter?
“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,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Now you can see a summary of that information and clear it from your account if you want to.”
Zuckerberg noted that his announcement of the tool coincides with “Data Privacy Day,” and added that the company is refocusing on stronger privacy protection in the coming decade. That pivot comes in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and other data-related privacy concerns on the social network.
The global roll-out of the feature “marks a new level of transparency and control,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ve been working on this for a while because we had to rebuild some of our systems to make this possible.”
A smattering of Facebook users already had access to the tool: Mashable reports that “users in some countries, including Ireland and South Korea, had it since last August, but now it’s available to everyone.”
How to clear your Facebook history
Using the desktop website, Facebook users should select “settings” from the drop-down menu on the upper far-right of their screen. Then, on the upper far left, select “your Facebook information.” From there, desktop users can peruse their “off-Facebook activity” and disconnect or manage the data as they see fit.
Facebook users on the social network’s mobile app can navigate to the menu, select “settings” and then select “settings and privacy.” That will take Facebook users to a page with a section labeled “your Facebook information” — and under that is an “off-Facebook activity” link that will reveal websites and applications that have shared your online activity with Facebook.
That page allows mobile users to manage their off-Facebook activity as well, or clear the history all together.
Users who elect push the “clear history” button are warned that “clearing your history may log you out of” other online tools, such as music-playing app Spotify or news apps.
How does Facebook get your data from other sites?
As Facebook explained it, “much of what you do online generates data — like when you’re searching for vacation spots or buying a backpack. Occasionally, businesses share that data with Facebook.”
But why does Facebook want that data in the first place?
“One way that data can be used is to help businesses find the right audience to show ads for things you might like—such as a deal on backpacks,” Facebook explained. “These ads are what make most of the internet available free of charge, including Facebook.”
The kind of data Facebook gets from third-party sites varies.
According to Facebook, that data “includes information that businesses and organizations share with us about your interactions with them. Interactions are things like visiting their website or logging into their app with Facebook. Off-Facebook activity does not include customer lists that businesses use to show a unique group of customers relevant ads.”
What happens if you clear your off-Facebook history?
Choosing to clear your history means Facebook will no longer link the information you disconnected back to your personal account, according to the company.
But that data doesn’t disappear entirely.
“This data can still be used without being linked to an individual user to allow us to let businesses know how their website, app or ads are performing,” Facebook said.
Don’t expect fewer advertisements in your newsfeed, either.
“You’ll still see the same number of ads,” Facebook said. “The ads that you will see may be less personalized to you.”
Who should clear their Facebook history?
The tool could help Facebook users who feel like targeted ads are badgering them based on their online browsing or search habits.
“The Clear History tool can be helpful if you’re constantly getting ads for something you were just looking at online or being served suggestions for things Facebook thinks you might be interested in,” Dami Lee wrote for The Verge.
Writing in Mashable, Alex Perry suggested the tool could be useful for more than just avoiding personalized ads.
“Even if it’s not a perfect solution to Facebook’s intensely creepy and unnecessary data collection practices, it’s at least nice to have some transparency about what the service knows about you,” Perry wrote. “You might be better off deleting Facebook entirely, but if not, you should consider uncoupling your browsing habits from its clutches.”
According to Zuckerberg, Facebook’s billions of members will soon be asked to think about their privacy on the site.
“Over the next few weeks we’ll show nearly 2 billion people around the world a prompt encouraging 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 wrote Tuesday. “This makes it even easier to adjust who can see your posts and profile information, strengthen your account security by turning on login alerts, and review the information you share with apps you’ve logged in to with Facebook.”
