Facebook launches tool to allow users to stop it tracking them off-site

Facebook is to allow users to stop it stalking them off-site with new tool that will show who’s sharing their browsing habits with the social network.

The tech giant, which faces mounting criticism for the way it collects and handles data, said it would now allow users to see exactly which websites shared their personal information with Facebook.

The new Off-Facebook Activity feature will also allow users to stop certain sites sharing their activity with Facebook, however the company confirmed they would not be able to permanently delete the shared data, only disconnect it from their profile.

Facebook has a number of tools that third party companies can use to send information about what customers are looking at back to the social network. That data is then often used to target ads for products from those sites back at users in Facebook.

The company said the tool would also help users to understand why they sometimes saw confusing ads pop up, as websites may have shared data from times other people or family members were using their phone or computer.

Facebook started rolling out the feature in Ireland, Spain and South Korea yesterday, and said other countries would soon follow.

Mark Zuckerberg originally announced plans for the tool last year acknowledging that it was something that “privacy advocates have been asking for”.

Facebook said it expected the new tool would cost it revenue as it would impact its lucrative targeted-advertising business model.

Announcing the new features, Erin Egan, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer, said: “If you clear your off-Facebook activity, we’ll remove your identifying information from the data that apps and websites choose to send us. We won’t know which websites you visited or what you did there, and we won’t use any of the data you disconnect to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger.

“We expect this could have some impact on our business, but we believe giving people control over their data is more important.”

The move comes as the social media giant is facing increasing scrutiny over it data practices. Last year the company was fined £500,000 by the UK’s Information Commissioner over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the data of 87 million users was shared with the political consulting firm without consent. Facebook has since appealed the decision.

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled last month that individual companies could be held liable for sharing data with Facebook without customers’ consent.

The company is also coming under pressure from regulators in the US, with the FTC handing it a $5 billion (£4.1 billion) in July for “violating consumers’ privacy”.