If you use Facebook you’re probably aware that both the Facebook website and the mobile app collect all manner of data about you and use that info for marketing and other purposes.
But did you know that other companies share the info they collect about you with Facebook as well?
Of course Facebook says they’d never use the info they collect about their users in a malicious manner, and that could well be the truth.
But that being said, I’m not a huge fan of having any company collect tons of info about me and store it on their servers, especially when much of that info was provided by other companies that I interact with.
If you feel the same way you can easily delete the third-party info Facebook has collected about you to date and prevent them from collecting more of it in the future. Here’s how:
1 – Open a web browser and click (or tap) the following link, then sign in to your Facebook account (if you’re prompted to do so):
https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/
Note: Depending on the browser you’re using you should see either one box or two boxes containing info about your Facebook activity along with several options for managing it.
The options you see initially and the way they are worded will depend on which browser you’re using. Therefore, just use the steps that follow as a general guide.
2 – Click either Clear Previous Activity or Clear History (depending on which one you see). That will erase all of the third-party info that Facebook has collected about you to date.
3 – Click either Disconnect future activity or Manage Future Activity (again, depending on which one you see). If you don’t see either of those options, look for a “More Options” link and click it.
4 – Follow the prompts as they appear to turn off third-party data collection.
That’s all there is to it. All of the data that Facebook has collected about you from third parties should now be gone and they should no longer be collecting any new data from them.