Facebook is today rolling out an update to its Access Your Information tool with the aim of making the tool easier to use and navigate, as well as better explaining how and why that data is used. The new version of the tool has been visually redesigned and now further splits the viewable information into eight different categories instead of just two.
The tool was first launched in 2018 in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when the personal data of up to 87 million Facebook users were hijacked. Following that event, Facebook made a number of changes to how its platform apps work and rolled out new features to make it easier for users to find and use Facebook's privacy settings.
One of the new additions was this Access Your Info tool, which gives users a secure way to manage their posts, reactions, comments, and other things they've searched for on Facebook. The idea is that you could use the tool to extract your information, then "delete anything from your history or profile that you no longer want on Facebook".
Previously, this tool only offered two broad categories of data: your information and information about you. The updated version, on the other hand, has broken it down into eight categories:
- Your activity on Facebook
- Friends and followers
- Preferences
- Personal information
- Recorded information
- About Ads
- Apps and websites outside of Facebook
- Security and login information
Within each of these eight categories, the information is then further broken down into sub-categories. This makes it easier for you to drill down more precisely only on the type of data you want to view and possibly remove.
In addition, the tool introduces the search functionality with the update. You can find categories of data by doing a search, such as typing "location" to get information about your location history.
The tool will now better explain how this Facebook data can be used to personalize your experience on its platform. For example, you might see that your top location is one of the signals that was used to target you with an ad for a food delivery app. (Facebook already explains this in its tool Why I see this tool for ads, but now it's in this tool too.)
Facebook says the changes were developed based on how people used the tool, especially in terms of the categories of data they were clicking on.
That said, the timing of the tool's revamp is remarkable. There is a great deal of effort underway by Apple to better highlight to App Store users which apps collect personal data which is then used to track it. Apple is now requiring apps to add App Store privacy labels and will soon require apps to obtain user consent to track.
Facebook, in response to this push, launched a website and ran full-page ads in newspapers to get support for its personalized advertising business, noting the damage it claims will come to small businesses as a result of the changes. from Apple.
This revamped tool will help make the case for Facebook users as well, explaining why the data and ads might be useful. (After all, isn't it better to see a food delivery ad for a company that actually serves your area? Facebook would like to make you think.)
Then there's the not-so-small matter of people who might be trying to quickly erase their incriminating Facebook story - like photos and videos of themselves inside the Capitol during last week's uprising, perhaps. Now that the FBI is filing federal charges and dozens of others have been indicted in the Superior Court, people may be rethinking their decision to share their participation in the event so publicly. The tool could help there too.
Facebook, when asked, said the improvements are just a usability update, however.