Facebook Executive Says New Privacy Feature May Dent Revenue

Facebook finished a feature that will let users separate their internet browsing history from their personal profiles, according to Bloomberg.

The move is a risk for the world’s largest social media company because it could make Facebook advertising less accurate and potentially less valuable for marketers. Indeed, the executive leading the project, David Baser, said Facebook expects it to “decrease top-line revenue to some degree.“

The company is unveiling “Off-Facebook Activity“ on Tuesday, a feature it previously called “Clear History,“ and one that CEO Mark Zuckerberg first announced in May 2018. The tool enables users to disconnect their Facebook profile from web browsing data and other information the company collects from outside apps and sites.

Facebook scoops up this data in a number of ways, including through tracking software that developers voluntarily add to their websites and apps. This helps make Facebook ads more effective: If a retailer knows what items you click on their website, they can re-target you with ads for those products on the social network.

But the system is not well-understood by users. Off-Facebook Activity is meant to clarify some of this by showing people what Facebook has collected, and offering a way to remove it. Users will have to proactively seek out the new feature in their settings, where they’ll see a list of companies and websites that have shared data with Facebook.

Users then have two main options. They can clear all browsing data from their account, which means it will no longer be used for ad targeting, or tell Facebook to stop linking this data to their account moving forward. Users can do this holistically, meaning no browsing data will be linked from any app or website, or halt that data pairing for specific apps and websites.

In either instance, Facebook will continue to collect data about people’s browsing activity, and store it on company servers. It just won’t tie that data back to a specific user.