BLOG | Cookie Compliance | February 28, 2020

Facebook’s “Off-Facebook Activity” Transparency Tool

Facebook recently made it’s “Off-Facebook Activity” tool available to users worldwide. However, breaking the activity links doesn’t mean that you’re not getting tracked anymore, and it also doesn’t mean your data is getting deleted.

Eliza Crawford

Product Manager

Facebook recently made it’s “Off-Facebook Activity” tool available to users worldwide. This tool allows users to manage the data that third-party websites and apps share with Facebook. This tool provides transparency, however, breaking the activity links doesn’t mean that you’re not getting tracked anymore, and it also doesn’t mean your data is getting deleted.

… there’s a price for that convenience, and that’s data and your privacy.

What’s the Point?

The feature was released due to concerns from users about how their data is brokered and sold to support advertisers. Here’s how it works: as you use a website or app, it may send Facebook information about your activity which Facebook then uses to display relevant ads.

Learn more about collecting prior consent on your website or app before tracking users

With the new “Off-Facebook Activity” feature, Facebook provides a view of the sites and apps that are tracking your activity and gives you the ability to break that tracking from your account.

Why Is This Important?

With the number of apps and sites we visit daily, we don’t always know for certain which ones are collecting and selling our data –

The average smartphone user has more than 80 installed apps on their device

Sometimes it’s more convenient to log-in to an app using an existing Facebook or Google login versus having to create multiple accounts. However, there’s a price for that convenience, and that’s data and your privacy.

So, am I Clear once I “Clear”?

In short: no. The Off-Facebook Activity tool offers a summary of which apps and sites have collected your data and gives you the ability to break the third-party’s connection to Facebook. However, once you break the connections, it doesn’t prevent third parties from future data-sharing, and it may also log you out of dozens of apps which can be a pain.

In addition, in order to actually delete the data the app or site has collected about you, you’ll need to follow that site or app’s procedures for data deletion. Learn more →

Consumers shall have the right, at any time, to direct a business that sells personal information about the consumer to third parties not to sell the consumer’s personal information. This right may be referred to as the right to opt-out.
CCPA SECTION 1798.120(A)

What’s Next?

The major problem here is the lack of active and informed prior consent for the surveillance of internet users via background tracking technologies embedded into apps and websites.

In order to build trust, many businesses that leverage tracking technologies such as Facebook tracking pixels are providing users with a clear and transparent consent notice that gives the visitor the ability to opt-in or opt-out of tracking before their data is collected.

Learn how CookiePro makes it simple to collect consent on your websites and mobile apps, automates the data subject and consumer rights process and provides you with a FREE Do Not Sell My Information button in compliance with the CCPA.