Mastering Facebook Privacy: Essential Tips to Protect Your Data

Security audits, though tedious, are essential for protecting your online data. Numerous data breaches, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, highlight the importance of ensuring that social networks and apps aren’t collecting more information than necessary.

Big tech companies profit from your data by either selling it or using it to target advertisements. Facebook, for example, has implemented some measures to help users protect their data, but it still collects a significant amount of information. Limiting access to your data is crucial, and the best way to do this without deleting your account is by using the privacy settings effectively.

To manage your data on Facebook, start by navigating to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Apps and Websites. Here, you can see which apps and sites have access to your data. For each app, click “View and Edit” to adjust the permissions or remove the app entirely if it’s no longer in use.

Check the “View Removed Apps and Websites” section to see what you’ve previously deleted and ensure old permissions are not lingering. To prevent future access, go to Preferences and turn off the ability to log into third-party apps using Facebook.

Additionally, manage your “Off-Facebook Activity” by navigating to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Meta Accounts Center > Your Information and Permissions > Your Activity Off Meta Technologies. Clear past activity and manage future connections to limit what data external sites share with Facebook.

For comprehensive privacy protection, consider performing a full privacy checkup on Facebook to control who can see your information. Ultimately, the best way to avoid data tracking is to delete your Facebook and other Meta-owned accounts entirely.