Facebook says its Off-Facebook Activity tool, which claims to let users clear data collected from other apps and sites, from their accounts, is now available
The purpose of the Oversight Board is to protect freedom … Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : All users can now access Facebook's tool for controlling which apps and sites can share data for ad-targeting Dwight Silverman / Houston Chronicle : Houston judge blocks Facebook privacy tool Jak Connor / TweakTown News : Facebook to soon ask 2 billion users to review their privacy settings Rachel Kaser / The Next Web : How to use Facebook's ‘Off-Facebook Activity’ tool Tweets: Donna Chisholm / @donna_chisholm : Yikes.Just deleted FB's Off-Facebook activity tracker after checking out the plethora of apps I use that share info with it.This story tells you what to do. Facebook will now show you exactly how it stalks you — even when you're not using Facebook https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @eff : Facebook has just released a tool that lets you turn off some third-party tracking. But changing the new setting requires 9 different clicks, in a corner of the site that most users will never see. Here's how to go turn it off now. (1/6) https://www.eff.org/... @eff : We're happy to see Facebook taking this step toward transparency and user control, and hope other companies follow suit. But the burden shouldn't be on users to manage ever-changing privacy settings. Real change will require stronger data privacy laws. https://www.eff.org/... Consumer NZ / @consumernz : Here's a good guide to turning off some third-party tracking on Facebook. It's not perfect but it's a step forward https://twitter.com/... PEN America / @penamerica : Facebook's new “Off-Facebook Activity” tracker will show its users what data it gathers from partnering websites, apps, and stores. The @washingtonpost concludes, “You might be shocked or at least a little embarrassed by what you find in there.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Aral Balkan / @aral : Transparency is only Step 1. If we don't like what we see, what can we do about it? If the answer is nothing (e.g., because the regulators want to work there in 3 yrs), transparency becomes a synonym for learned helplessness; a snuff film of our lives that we're forced to watch. https://twitter.com/... @profcarroll : Facebook: We don't assemble “shadow profiles” and users can download their data. Also Facebook: Here's a metric ton of tracking data that hasn't been previously disclosed until this year's #DataPrivacyDay #DataProtectionDay https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Geoffrey A. Fowler / @geoffreyfowler : How does Facebook stalk you IRL? Let us count the ways: - FB knows when I open my Ring app to answer the door - FB knows when I buy a cup of coffee at Peet's - FB knows when I click on my Home Depot shopping cart See for yourself: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... #DataPrivacyDay Geoffrey A. Fowler / @geoffreyfowler : New @washingtonpost: Celebrate #DataPrivacyDay by terrifying yourself. Peek at out your new “Off-Facebook Acitivy” page to see all the ways Facebook stalks you — even when you're not using Facebook. My results were 🍌🍌: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @jvitak : To see this, go to Settings>>Your Facebook Information>>Off-Facebook Activity. You can also clear your history and manage future activity. Facebook will now show you exactly how it stalks you — even when you're not using Facebook https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Geoffrey A. Fowler / @geoffreyfowler : Is Facebook listening to you? Why bother — it's already stalking you. See for yourself all the ways Facebook tracks you even when the app is closed. Even when your phone is off. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... #DataPrivacyDay2020 Rob Sherman / @rmsherman : We're sending reminders to nearly 2 billion people to review their privacy settings on @facebook. Also, now everyone can manage their info off FB using our new OFA tool. More here: https://about.fb.com/... #DataPrivacyDay See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The rollout caps a two-year arc of Facebook building user-facing privacy surfaces rather than changing its data plumbing: the 2018 bulk third-party app removal and the in-app activity dashboard that BuzzFeed News called window dressing rather than an overhaul. The Off-Facebook Activity tool extends that pattern to data other apps and sites hand to Facebook for ad-targeting.
First-order effects
- Users who take up the tool — pushed by reminders to nearly 2 billion accounts — can sever the link between off-platform activity and their Facebook profile, degrading the match rates advertisers get from that data.
- As Gizmodo's same-day reporting shows, the tool only disconnects the data from the account rather than deleting it, so the underlying collection by apps and sites continues regardless of what users toggle.
Second-order effects
- A Houston judge has already blocked the tool locally, signaling that courts may test whether 'clear your activity' framing overstates what the control actually does.
- Advertisers dependent on off-Facebook signals face thinner audiences as Facebook actively drives its base to review these settings, shifting targeting value back toward on-platform behavior.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — connection-severing marketed as clearing, followed by Privacy International's finding that the Download Your Information tool returns incomplete advertiser lists — regulators gain a concrete template for scrutinizing whether platform privacy controls do what they claim.
The trend: Platform privacy tools are converging on disconnection over deletion, with journalists, researchers, and now courts probing whether the controls match their labels.