Facebook knows a lot about everyone that's why it's one of the biggest advertising platforms. Facebook tracks users across the Internet through the online activity of users that other websites and apps share with Facebook.
Everything we do online, from buying shoes and clothes to looking for products we like, generates a huge amount of behavioral data. And websites and apps often share these behavioral data with too many advertising companies, allowing them to build accurate profiles of your needs and interests.
After facing worldwide criticism over the data breach and privacy controversies, last summer Facebook announced a privacy-focused tool, named Off-Facebook Activity, which gives every user of Facebook more control and transparency of their data collected by Facebook.
At first, the Off-Facebook Activity feature was available to users in selected geographies for testing and now, the Off-Facebook Activity feature is available to all users worldwide.
Other websites and apps send data to Facebook about your online activity (browsing habits) on their sites and apps, by using that data Facebook shows you relevant ads. However, now you can see a clear overview of that data and also clear it from your Facebook account.
How To Use Off-Facebook Activity Tool?
Note that, the Off-Facebook Activity feature doesn't actually allow Facebook users to clear their browsing data from a server of Facebook, instead it simply allows users to clear the data that Facebook gets from other websites you've visited or apps you used.
For Example, I found that in the past 3 months, over 900 websites and apps had shared my online activity with Facebook which are banking, shopping, news, and even LinkedIn.
Now, Let's start how to access Off-Facebook Activity Tool. First of all, I am going to show how to access Off-Facebook Activity Tool for Facebook Web. So, Let's begin.
How To Access Off-Facebook Activity Tool For Facebook Web:-
Step 1. Open the Facebook website and "hit the down arrow icon" in the top-right of the screen.
Step 2. Tap on "Settings" from the drop-down menu.
Step 3. Then, Tap on "Your Facebook Information" option in the top-left of the screen and after that Tap on "Off-Facebook activity".
Step 4. On the upcoming screen, Tap on "Manage your off-Facebook activity" option. And after entering your account's password, on the next screen, you can see the list of all websites and apps that had shared your data (online activity) with Facebook.
Step 5. You can download online activity details by clicking on "Download your information" option.
Step 6. You can turn off data (online activity) sharing from websites and apps to your Facebook account by clicking on "Manage Future Activity" option and after that by clicking on "Turn Off" option.
Step 7. You can also clear history by clicking on "Clear history" option at the top of the screen.
That's it, you are done. This is how you can access Off-Facebook Activity Tool for Facebook Web.
How To Access Off-Facebook Activity Tool For Facebook App:-
Step 1. Open the Facebook application and "hit the three horizontal lines icon" in the top-right of the screen.
Step 2. Tap on "Settings & Privacy" from the list.
Step 3. Then, Tap on "Privacy Shortcuts" option from the drop-down menu.
Step 4. On the next screen, Find "Your Facebook Information" tool and from that tool, Tap on "View or clear your off-Facebook activity" option.
Step 5. On the upcoming screen, Tap on "Manage Your off-Facebook activity" option. And after entering your account's password, on the next screen, you can see the list of all websites and apps that had shared your data (online activity) with Facebook.
Step 6. You can download online activity details by firstly clicking on "the three dots icon" in the top-right corner of the screen and after that by clicking on "Download Your Information" option.
Step 7. You can turn off data (online activity) sharing from websites and apps to your Facebook account by firstly clicking on "the three dots icon" in the top-right corner of the screen, then by clicking on "Manage Future Activity" option and after that by clicking on "Turn Off" option.
Step 8. You can also clear history by clicking on "Clear History" option at the top of the screen.
That's it, you are done. This is how you can access Off-Facebook Activity Tool for Facebook App.
It is important to note that, after clicking on "Clear History" option, you will be logged out of many websites and apps you accessed using your Facebook account. Also, this option doesn't stop third-party websites and apps from future data-sharing. It's just the new online activity data of yours won't be associated with the Facebook account.
Still, It is a remarkable step towards transparency and control of the user's privacy and security.
If you have any questions related to Facebook's Off-Facebook Activity feature and also want to share your views on this then please mention in the comments box and I will get back to you.
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