19 March 2021, Kathmandu
It should not be much of a surprise to anyone telling that Facebook tracks your activities on its platform that’s why it can remind you about your birthday or anniversary photos from your past uploads. You might have had some idea that Facebook is watching you, but thanks to its new Off-Facebook activity tracker, it’s now possible to watch how Facebook is tracking your activity.
This privacy check tool allows you to clear the history of apps and websites that have shared your data. The random websites and apps use Pixel and software development kit (SDK) from Facebook to collect information about your activity and the device you are using, and send directly to Facebook. Facebook then uses those information to show you targeted ads. In this article, we will outline the steps required to disable Facebook from tracking your activities and restricting the “Off-Facebook Activity” feature.
How to stop Facebook from tracking your activities:
Follow these steps below thoroughly to limit the data shared by third-party apps to Facebook.
- Open the Facebook app on your phone and tap on the menu icon, located on the top right corner of the screen, and click on the “Settings & Privacy” tab. PIC 1
- Scroll down the bottom until you find “Off-Facebook Activity.” PIC 2
- Tap on Clear History to make sure that you delete all the data that Facebook has collected to date. As soon as you clear the history, you can see all the apps disappearing from the top of the screen.
- Now, tap on ‘More options’ and then ‘Manage Future Activity.’ PIC 3
- Finally, the last step remains and you need to Toggle the “Future Off-Facebook Activity button off.” PIC 4
What will happen if you disable the ‘Off-Facebook’ activity’?
Once you turn off the ‘Off-Facebook activity’ option, you won’t get personalized advertisements, which means if you want your ads to be personalized, you will have to pay for it with your data. Turning off this type of data sharing won’t allow you to use Facebook to log in to other apps or sites. Facebook has been attracting bad press for quite some time due to the privacy interests of its users, but this is a very good step. While there are still a lot of changes Facebook will have to make before it can really claim itself as a “privacy-protective” platform, this is a really welcoming start.