Privacy please

FACEBOOK has had a few turbulent years when it comes to meeting expectations of privacy. The company has had data breaches and has been revealed to participate in some shady information-sharing practices that are a bit unnerving, to say the least.

The most recent scandal came when The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook can receive information from multiple apps on your smartphone or tablet even if, in some cases, you don’t have a Facebook account.

But at long last Facebook shared some good news regarding privacy: CNBC reported the social media giant announced it’ll launch a tool this year that will allow users to clear their history.

Here’s more from CNBC:

“The feature will allow users to see information about apps and websites they’ve interacted with and delete this information from their Facebook accounts. [CFO David] Wehner said the feature will make it harder for Facebook to use data collected by third parties to target ads to users.”

It’s about time Facebook returned some of its power back to its customers. David Wehner admitted this could affect Facebook’s ability to target ads, but if that’s the cost to users for getting a little more control over their information, that’s a price Facebook, and its users, are willing to pay. You’ve likely dealt with inaccurate ads for decades now. Facebook not knowing to sell you Oreos when you’re having a craving will cost you zero sleep.

One could always make the argument that if you’re tired of the product Facebook provides, you can always quit. Some days we could all benefit from quitting, even if for an hour or two.