Facebook Inc. users will soon have more control over their data and there will more transparency as to what data is collected via their browsing habits, the company announced Tuesday.

In a blog post penned by Erin Egan, chief privacy officer for policy, and Product Management Director David Baser, the pair stated the obvious in that free apps use an advertising business model. What’s not always obvious is just what data is being collected and how it’s being collected.

The post went on to say that when Facebook receives information about a user from another website or general browsing activity it now classes this as “Off-Facebook Activity.” An example given is imagine a person is searching for a pair of shoes on a website. Facebook receives information that this particular person is in the market for shoes. Now users will have the opportunity to see and control this kind of data collection.

“Off-Facebook Activity lets you see a summary of the apps and websites that send us information about your activity, and clear this information from your account if you want to,” said Facebook. This new tool will first be rolled out in Ireland, South Korea and Spain but it will soon become global.

More so, Facebook said users will be able not only to see a summary of what data they have shared and if they so choose to disconnect the information from their Facebook account, but they can request that off-Facebook activity be turned off completely. It can also be turned off for specific apps or websites.

If users do this, Facebook won’t know what apps or websites a person has used or what they did there. The company said it won’t use “any of the data you disconnect to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger.”

The move might have a detrimental effect on the company’s profits. Facebook admitted as much, saying, “We expect this could have some impact on our business, but we believe giving people control over their data is more important.”

Facebook made $17 billion from ad sales in the quarter ended June 30, so there’s a lot at stake. It’s not clear yet how many people will actually change their settings.

Image: Christiaan Colen/Flickr