Regaining Control

Over the past few years, end users in the U.S. have been taken advantage of by tech companies looking to keep track of customer information. The data collection allows these companies to sell the info to 3rd parties, as well as target them specifically with ads. The end user has no insight into the depth or amount of data collected, and really no way to see what is being done with the data itself. This has been a growing concern, especially with Facebook users, because customers no longer feel that they have any control over anything who sees what they are doing online. With many headlines lately regarding user data leaks, the world has been waiting for Facebook to finally do something about the way that data is collected, stored and utilized. This past week, Facebook’s CFO David Wehner announced that Facebook would be launching a tool later this year called Clear History. This tool allows end users to clear all data relating to their profile, including other websites they’ve visited and ads they’ve clicked on. This is important because Facebook has drawn criticism with their data collection and ad-targeting techniques, and they are finally handing some power back to the user. They will also provide the ability to see which websites are collecting their Facebook data, and what they are using it for. While this may hurt Facebook’s revenues in the short-term, since it may hamper their ability to tailor ads based off of exactly what a specific user may want, it will also work to rebuild trust from the end user that Facebook has been losing consistently over the past few years.

Did your Facebook usage decrease after they began to have privacy issues? Will tools like this enable you to begin using it again? 

Source:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/26/18241985/facebook-clear-history-launch-2019-ad-targeting-privacy-tool