Facebook Inc.’s ad targeting algorithms serve up promotions based on user data that the social network gathers via its platforms and from other services such as e-commerce websites. Today, the company launched a tool that will give consumers a measure of control over how it tracks them on other parts of the web.

The tool, dubbed Off-Facebook Activity, is nearly two years in the making. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) previewed it under the name “Clear History” at the company’s F8 developer conference in March 2018.

Zuckerberg unveiled the tool just months after the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal that put the spotlight on how the social network handles users’ data. The incident ended up being a major factor in the $5 billion fine that the Federal Trade Commission handed down on Facebook last year. 

The Off-Facebook Activity tool takes the form of a new tab under the “Your Facebook Information” menu in the Facebook settings page. Clicking it brings up a brief plain-English explanation of how the company tracks consumers on other parts of the web. 

The overview is followed by a series of options allowing users to see what data the company has on their off-Facebook web activity, download the information, delete it and prevent the social network from tracking them in the future. For savvier consumers, the social network has also included an option to individually manage data sources. Facebook collects activity information from a broad array of services including e-commerce websites, retail chains and even certain smart home appliances that can be browsed by category in the tab.

“Off-Facebook Activity marks a new level of transparency and control,” Zuckerberg wrote in the blog post announcing the tool. “We’ve been working on this for a while because we had to rebuild some of our systems to make this possible.”

Facebook’s move to let users see and control data collection to a greater extent comes as it faces regulatory pressure to be more transparent in how it utilizes consumer information. Just last week, Italy’s top competition watchdog accused the social network of failing to comply with a 2018 order to notify newly registered members about how their data will be used. 

Photo: quintanomedia/Flickr