Press

Tech Giants Facebook have finally launched the highly anticipated new feature “Off-Facebook Activity” which allows users to opt-out of being tracked on the social media site. One year on from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook revealed its new feature to tackle its privacy breach. Facebook was found guilty of interfering in the 2016 US election, by using personal data from users to influence them to vote in a particular way. They were fined by the US Federal Trade Commission over $4 Billion as well as issuing Facebook to update its privacy settings, and with the new documentary “The Great Hack” people are more sensitive than ever before about the ways their data is being used. Mark Zuckerberg has been working on “Clear History” now known as “Off-Facebook activity” at F8, for over a year. A system that allows more control over how user’s data is used. The idea was focused on working on cracking down Fake News and clickbait articles however due to the recent pressures they rapidly distributed “Off-Facebook activity”. Off-Facebook Activity is in its trial period and is being tested out in Ireland, South Korea and Spain, with hopes of making it worldwide too. With this new feature, it allows users to see the information of third party businesses that have been sent through Facebook Pixel, Facebook Login and Facebook Likes. You can disconnect this information from your account and also opt-out of future Facebook activity. Previously it was revealed that even after you logged out of Facebook, the app could still track your browsing history. However many have noticed that there is a loophole to this new feature, as it doesn’t completely delete your browsing history, it simply dissociates from your Facebook account. The information will still be there but not associated with your account. Facebook states “Many apps and websites are free because they’re supported by online advertising. And to reach people who are more likely to care about what they are selling, businesses often share data about people’s interactions on their websites with ad platforms and other services.” This shows us that Facebook still sees users as products, as advertisers can still sell to the audience. Currently, Facebook has access to general data such as DOB, age, name, etc, the activity on your page, likes, photos etc and it also tracks cookies so this leads to the question of whether Facebook has redeemed itself from all this huge scandal or is this just a publicity stunt to try and undo the damage that has been created. However this is not a feature that Facebook will be promoting, people who care about their privacy will have to go the extra mile to get their privacy.