Facebook wants to give its users more control over their data.
During the firm’s F8 developers conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new tool coming to the platform that lets users wipe clean any data that tracks websites they’ve visited.
Called ‘clear history,’ the feature also scrubs any records of what ad’s you’ve clicked on while logged into Facebook.
During the F8 developers conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new tool coming to the platform that lets users wipe clean any data that tracks websites they’ve visited
Zuckerberg detailed the ‘clear history’ feature in his F8 keynote speech on Tuesday, after revealing it in a Facebook post earlier Tuesday morning.
He likened the tool to how users can delete their cookies and history in a web browser.
‘We’re building a version of this for Facebook too,’ Zuckerberg explained.
‘It will be a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook — what you’ve clicked on, websites you’ve visited and so on’.
In a blog post on the company’s website, Facebook’s vice president and chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, noted that the firm will only collect aggregated data on users if they turn off the feature.
‘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,’ Egan explained.
Called ‘clear history,’ the feature also scrubs any records of what ad’s you’ve clicked on while logged into Facebook. The tool is part of Facebook’s ‘arms race’ to protect user privacy
To start, the clear history tool will allow users to remove any data collected on them by ‘websites and apps that use Facebook’s ads and analytics tools’
It’s a noteworthy announcement by Facebook, given that the firm makes vast sums of money from advertisers who want to take advantage of its highly sophisticated user targeting services.
To start, the tool will allow users to remove any data collected on them by ‘websites and apps that use Facebook’s ads and analytics tools’.
This likely includes Facebook’s Audience Network, which promotes ads to users based on their browsing habits.
It means brands can direct marketing messages to you based on your interests, even when you’re not on the site, via other company’s apps and mobile websites.
They can collect information ranging from your IP address to the websites you have visited, the length of time you spent on a website and in what sequence pages were accessed.
Zuckerberg said the clear history tool is something privacy advocates have wanted for a long time.
‘It’s something privacy advocates have been asking for — and we will work with them to make sure we get it right,’ he added.
‘One thing I learned from my experience testifying in Congress is that I didn’t have clear enough answers to some of the questions about data’
‘We’re working to make sure these controls are clear, and we will have more to come soon,’ Zuckerberg said.
At F8, Zuckerberg also described 2018 as an ‘intense year’ for the social network, but promised to take a ‘broader view’ of the company’s responsibilities.
‘This has been an intense year. I can’t believe we’re only four months in,’ Zuckerberg explained.
‘We’re optimistic about the future. We have real challenges to address, but we have to keep that sense of optimism too,’
‘It’s not enough to just build powerful tools. We have to make sure they’re being used for good and we do and they will,’ he added.
Zuckerberg referred to the recent data privacy scandal involving the site and Cambridge Analytica as a ‘major breach of trust’.
‘We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again’, he said of the Cambridge Analytica incident, adding that it was important for the company to keep building new privacy tools as the issue would never fully be solved, calling it an ‘arms race’.
The Facebook founder also spoke about the company’s wider plans to introduce new tools to find and remove malicious content and accounts, as it looked to “protect election integrity” as well as data privacy among users.
‘We need to take a broader view of our responsibilities. It’s not enough to just make powerful tools, we need to make sure that these tools are used for good,’ he said.
‘We’re hard at work making sure people don’t misuse our platform.’
Facebook has been feeling the heat ever since it was revealed last month that more than 87 million users’ data had been unknowingly shared with research firm Cambridge Analytica
Last month, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Capitol Hill for a pair of high-stakes hearings, where he faced pointed questions about Facebook’s massive data scandal
It was revealed in March that at least 87 million users’ data had been harvested without their knowledge and shared with research firm Cambridge Analytica.
Users had their data mined by the Trump affiliated consultancy firm through the ‘This Is Your Digital Life’ quiz.
Last month, the Facebook boss appeared on Capitol Hill for a pair of high-stakes hearings, where he faced pointed questions about Facebook’s massive data scandal.
However, Mr Zuckerberg did not respond to calls from MPs to appear before a parliamentary inquiry into fake news.
Officials have said they would consider issuing a formal summons for the next time Zuckerberg was in the UK if it did not receive a response to requests by May 11.
Zuckerberg appeared to make light of his recent testimonies during his F8 keynote, showing video from his testimony as an example of how Facebook users could watch and react to live video within its app.
During his keynote, the social network boss also attempted to strike an optimistic tone with the developers in the audience, telling attendees the site was committed to design technology to ‘help bring people closer together’.
WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL?
Communications firms Cambridge Analytica has offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia.
The company boasts it can ‘find your voters and move them to action’ through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists.
‘Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,’ with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website.
The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends.
The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (pictured), after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump
This meant the company was able to mine the information of 55 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so.
This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters’ choices at the ballot box.
The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump.
This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK.