【Thailand Archives】

Remember almost two years ago when Facebook promised it'd give users the ability to delete the browsing history it uses to serve personalized ads?Thailand Archives After the most leisurely rollout of all time, it's finally here.

Facebook flipped the switch and made the "Off-Facebook Activity" menu available to all on Tuesday. Users in some countries, including Ireland and South Korea, had it since last August, but now it's available to everyone.

So, what is it, exactly? First of all, you can find it in the settings menu of the Facebook mobile app right now. Here's what that looks like:

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Credit: alex perry / facebook SEE ALSO: Facebook swears it's not totally to blame for Jeff Bezos' WhatsApp hack

Once you're there, it's honestly pretty self-explanatory. If you want to manage your off-Facebook activity, you'll get a list of every website and app that Facebook tracks when you're not actually using Facebook. It's still shady and weird that Facebook does that at all, but now you know exactly when, how, and how many times it harvested data from those sites and apps.

If you just want to be rid all of that data, there's a big ol' "Clear History" button right there. Facebook warns that doing this might log you out of services you use Facebook to log into, like Spotify, but you can just log in again. It'll also keep harvesting data from those sites going forward unless you specifically opt out, which is another option in the "Manage Future Activity" part of the menu.

Should you choose to turn off data collection, Facebook says you'll still see the same number of ads as before, but they'll be less personalized. There's also one major catch to this: The data is merely "disconnected" from your account, rather than fully deleted from Facebook's servers. At least, that's what Facebook said in August.

Even if it's not a perfect solution to Facebook's intensely creepy and unnecessary data collection practices, it's at least nice to have some transparency about what the service knows about you. You might be better off deleting Facebook entirely, but if not, you should consider uncoupling your browsing habits from its clutches.

Topics Facebook Privacy

• Science
• Games
• Life
• Tech
• Deals
• Shopping
• Social Good
• Entertainment

• Useful or Little Known Android Features
• Balenciaga's $9,000 coat is pretty much a bunch of jackets on top of each other
• NASA's New Horizons snaps its first photo of Ultima Thule
• Pixel and iPhone had a baby, and it's called the HTC U12 Life
• Amazon Spring Sale 2025: Best LG OLED TV deal
• 'Pokémon Go' fans take over downtown Sydney in search of Pikachu
• Acer Swift 7 is incredibly thin, light and small
• 10 states sue federal government over transgender bathroom policies
• NYT Strands hints, answers for April 26
• Former congressman threatens 'war' against Obama in deleted tweet during Dallas shooting

• Adam Driver is at his very best in CIA torture drama 'The Report'
• 'Wounds' puts Armie Hammer through the wringer: Review
• Facebook and Apple employees throw down on gossip app Blind
• The Wisconsin Foxconn factory won't be a manufacturing plant after all
• Instagram went down
• John Oliver explains the enormous problem of police accountability
• How Google's Jigsaw is trying to detoxify the internet
• Everything coming to Amazon Prime Video in February 2019
• 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' co
• How millennials can contribute to their financial futures while supporting their values

• Trump delays TikTok ban for another 75 days
• Stunning videos show meteor light up Australian sky
• Solange Knowles posts heartbreaking tweets after recent police shootings
• Hands on with Sony's Xperia XZ3
• Nintendo Switch 2 release date, price announced
• Halle Berry has something to say about young Prince Harry's dorm poster of her
• Fall movie preview: What to watch if you're with the family
• Acer Swift 7 is incredibly thin, light and small
• Whale Vomit Episode 5: Startup Monarchy
• Spend your summer swimming in ice cream sprinkles (really)

• Character AI reveals AvatarFX, a new AI video generator
• 10 states sue federal government over transgender bathroom policies
• Politics and potatoes rose to the tops of our Twitter feeds this week
• Ann Dowd talks 'Handmaid's Tale,' 'Hereditary,' and cults
• Mary Shows Up
• Acer Predator Triton 900 is a 2
• Ann Dowd talks 'Handmaid's Tale,' 'Hereditary,' and cults
• Calvin Harris' new song throws tons of shade at Hiddleswift
• Best soundbar deal: Save $300 on the Sonos Arc
• Our 5 most anticipated films of fall 2018