Facebook will soon launch a feature that allows users to delete data about websites they visit and apps used. The company also comes with a dating function, ‘for long-term relationships.’
This is what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has just announced. With the new feature, Facebook users can see what data websites and apps have collected. This includes websites with a Like button that keeps track of which pages a Facebook user visits.
The Clear History function is still under construction and will only be launched in a few months, writes Facebook’s privacy boss Erin Egan. Users can also indicate that they no longer want that data to be collected from now on.
Data needed for better experience users
Facebook continues to provide websites and apps with data for analyzes, but that data can no longer be traced back to users. Facebook says to use the data ‘to improve the experience of users on Facebook.’ According to Egan, they work with lawyers, scientists, policymakers, and governments to ‘get input on this approach.’
“At the hearing in Congress, I found out that I did not have enough clear answers to some questions about data, we are working to make these settings easy, and we will soon have more such options,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook has been under fire since March because of a privacy scandal after it appeared that data from at least 87 million users had been sent to the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica. The stolen data was collected on Facebook by an app called ‘This is Your Digital Life.’
Competition for Tinder
According to Zuckerberg, the new dating function in the Facebook app is meant for ‘long-term relationships.’ “We have designed this from the outset with privacy and security in mind, your friends will not see your profile, and you will only be introduced to people who are not your friends,” Zuckerberg said.
With the dating function, Facebook, which has 2.2 billion active monthly users worldwide, is competing with, among others, the app Tinder.
