Facebook Tracks User Activity Outside the Social Network
On Tuesday, January 28, Facebook introduced a new feature called “Off-Facebook Activity.” This feature not only allows users to clear their activity history outside the social network, but also reveals that Facebook tracks users even when the app is turned off.
To deliver relevant ads, Facebook and its subsidiaries Instagram and Messenger don’t need to eavesdrop or spy on users through their device cameras and microphones—they have other tools for that. Facebook knows when a user visits a politician’s website, reads a news article, makes a purchase in an online store, or unlocks a smart lock using an app.
With the new “Off-Facebook Activity” feature, users can now see which websites and apps have sent Facebook information about them over the past 180 days.
According to the feature’s description: “Off-Facebook Activity includes your interactions with businesses and organizations that they share with us. For example, when you visit their websites through Facebook. […] Businesses and organizations that use our business tools can share information with us about actions taken on their websites or in their apps. This allows us to personalize content, such as showing you the most relevant ads. According to our requirements, businesses and organizations must notify users in advance that they will use our business tools.”
The feature is hidden in the app’s “Settings” and is mainly informational. While it does allow users to delete their off-Facebook activity history, this will not affect the amount of ads shown, the continued collection of information, or the personalization of ads.
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