Last year, Facebook teased a new feature called Clear History that would let you see all the websites and apps that sent Facebook info when you used them. Fast-forward more than one year and that feature is finally starting to roll out.
Off-Facebook Activity is the name of the feature that'll let you see a summary of the apps and websites that send info about your activity to Facebook. This uses Facebook's business tools like Facebook Pixel or Facebook Login. You'll also be able to clear this info about you from your account.
"Imagine a clothing website wants to show ads to people who are interested in a new style of shoes. They can send information to Facebook saying someone on a particular device looked at those shoes," explains Facebook. "If that device information matches someone’s Facebook account, we can show ads about those shoes to that person."
You can then use Off-Facebook Activity to disconnect this information from your account as well as disconnect future Off-Facebook Activity from your account if you'd like. You have the option of disconnecting all of your Off-Facebook Activity or just specific apps and websites.
If you clear your Off-Facebook Activity, your identifying information will be removed from the data that apps and websites send to Facebook. Facebook won't know which sites you've visited and won't use the data to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger.
The Off-Facebook Activity Tool is launching first in Ireland, South Korea, and Spain. It'll roll out to more places over the coming months.
Having more control over your data privacy and the info that sites share about you is always a good thing. And while this Off-Facebook Activity won't prevent apps and websites won't completely stop apps and sites from sharing info with Facebook, it will disconnect this information from your Facebook account, which is better than the options that Facebook users had before.