Facebook is adding a 'Clear History' feature that deletes all your browsing data from your account
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced preceding the company's F8 conference a new privacy control called "Clear History."
- The feature will operate similarly to clearing your web browser's browsing history; what you've clicked on, the websites you frequent, etc., will be wiped.
- Zuckerberg said unlearning this kind of information may make it less seamless for Facebook to relearn what you prefer.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said users will for the first time be able to "clear" the data from their profiles that keeps track of their activities on the social network.
The new feature, called "Clear History," would operate similarly to a web browser's feature allowing users to clear history and cookies from the cache, Zuckerberg wrote on his personal Facebook page Tuesday.
"Once we roll out this update, you'll be able to see information about the apps and websites you've interacted with, and you'll be able to clear this information from your account," Zuckerberg wrote, promising to provide more details during Facebook's annual developers conference that kicks of on Tuesday morning.
The feature is one of the most significant measures taken by Facebook to increase privacy controls for its users following the Cambridge Analytica reveal that the data company had harvested 87 million users' Facebook data.
Zuckerberg noted in the post that users who choose to clear the data from their Facebook profiles might have a less smooth experience on the social networks. "Your Facebook won't be as good while it relearns your preferences," Zuckerberg said.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Recode that though the Clear History feature will be available, users' browsing data could still be kept in an off site location for companies that use Facebook for analytics; the data just wouldn't be used for targeting anymore.
Here's Zuckerberg's post on the new Clear History feature: