Facebook’s resurrection of an old privacy feature makes this as good a time as any to lock down your profile.
The social media site has announced that it is bringing its ‘View as Public’ feature back, so you can (once again) easily see what your Facebook profile looks like to anyone you’re not Facebook friends with.
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The feature was ditched in September 2018 after cybercriminals exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code.
“This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts. Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app,” Facebook explained at the time.
Nearly 50 million accounts were affected.
The company’s investigation is now over, and it has decided to bring the feature back.
Today, we're making it easier for people to manage their publicly visible information on Facebook with two updates: (1) we’re bringing back the “View As Public” feature and (2) we’re adding an “Edit Public Details” button directly to profiles. pic.twitter.com/zI5bVwodjp
— Facebook (@facebook) May 14, 2019
“We have completed our security review and are re-enabling the version of the ‘View As’ feature that lets people see what their profile looks like to people they aren’t friends with on Facebook. This version was unaffected by the security incident and was significantly more popular than ‘View as Specific Person’”, Facebook says.
If you see something you don’t like, the new ‘Edit Public Details’ option will allow you to make a quick fix.
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It isn’t clear when View as Public will roll out to users, but it’s good to know it’s returning. It’s a really convenient tool that shows how many of your personal details you’ve been sharing with the world through your Facebook account − whether you realised it or not.
Check out our breakdown of 18 Facebook privacy features you can use to ensure your profile is as locked down as you want it to be.
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Editorial independence
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.
