Facebook is giving users more control over how it shares information with third-party apps and websites. The social network added a new menu to its settings that allows users to see which sites are sharing user data with Facebook and the option to stop them from doing so.
The Off-Facebook Activity menu provides a summary of the apps and websites that send Facebook information about the user's browsing activity. Facebook users can then choose to clear this information from their account and stop selected websites and apps from sharing information with Facebook.
The new feature is rolling out gradually, first to Facebook users in Ireland, South Korea and Spain.
The change follows pressure from regulators in several countries for Facebook to open up on how it collects data from third-party sites. The use of cookies and 'like' buttons on other sites and apps allows Facebook also to collect data on non-Facebook users of these sites.
In Belgium, Facebook is appealing a decision from the data protection regulator that it violated user privacy by not seeking prior consent before collecting information from third-party sites. In Spain, a class-action suit is underway for similar reasons. Facebook faces oversight for all its EU activities in Ireland.
