Facebook has announced a new feature called Clear History, which will let you prevent certain information from being associated with your account.
It won’t wipe everything you’ve ever done on the site, but it should grant you a little more control over where your data goes.
Related: How to delete your Facebook account
People have directed a lot of anger at the social media firm in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal (but shock horror, Facebook still reported higher than expected Q1 earnings last month), and Zuckerberg and co at least appear to be paying attention.
“This feature will enable you to see the websites and apps that send us information when you use them, delete this information from your account, and turn off our ability to store it associated with your account going forward,” Facebook wrote in a blog post announcing the feature.
“Apps and websites that use features such as the Like button or Facebook Analytics send us information to make their content and ads better. We also use this information to make your experience on Facebook better.”
Clear History isn’t ready yet, but it was important for Facebook to confirm that such a feature was in the pipeline as early as possible.
The firms says it is shaping Clear History by working alongside privacy advocates, academics, policymakers and regulators.
“If you clear your history or use the new setting, we’ll remove identifying information so a history of the websites and apps you’ve used won’t be associated with your account,” the blog post continues.
“We’ll still provide apps and websites with aggregated analytics – for example, we can build reports when we’re sent this information so we can tell developers if their apps are more popular with men or women in a certain age group. We can do this without storing the information in a way that’s associated with your account, and as always, we don’t tell advertisers who you are.”
Does Clear History go far enough? Are you expecting more from Facebook? Share your thoughts @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
