One of the major announcements from Facebook’s F8 conference is a new privacy feature that will let users clear all their history on Facebook, much like what you can already do on your browser.
You know it; privacy has become the core of all conversations about Facebook, around the world. People want more control over what Facebook knows about them, and what is being shared with third-party apps. But what we want even more than control, is the right to start over, to delete whatever Facebook has “learned” about us. The new “Clear History” feature was built for this purpose.
“In your web browser, you have a simple way to clear your cookies and history. The idea is a lot of sites need cookies to work, but you should still be able to flush your history whenever you want.” – Zuckerberg explained.
Well now, Facebook is building a version of this too. The new feature, called “Clear History” will allow every user to clear their browsing history on Facebook: what they have clicked on, the websites they have visited, the apps they have signed up to and interacted with…
The feature is obviously a direct consequence of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the request by many users to be able to remove their data with one simple click.
Zuckerberg explained that “flushing down” your history will remove all layers of personalization you enjoy on Facebook every day. He added that after you clear your Facebook browsing history, it would take Facebook some time to be able to re-learn what you like and feel personalized again. That is not necessarily a bad thing though, right?
Unfortunately, the feature is going to take “a few months” to be built and rolled out to all users, according to a blog post by Erin Egan, VP and chief privacy officer at Facebook.
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