No matter which corner of the world you may have been, at some point of time the headlines about Facebook’s data scandal must’ve surely got your attention for sure. And why not! It brought a complete state of turmoil in the tech industry. For some users Facebook is not just an app, it’s an emotion! As Facebook is a huge part of our social lives, the news spread like a wildfire across the globe.
So, now in return to this Facebook is trying to correct its course of action of that major data scandal by offering users a new set of privacy tools and giving us more power to control our data. Recently, Facebook announced a new bunch of privacy controls which include a way to download and delete data, a revamped settings menu, and additional shortcuts for controlling our private information.
Let’s see how can we use these new Privacy tools on Facebook and ensure that our account is well protected.
How to Use Facebook’s New Privacy Tools
Well, thanks to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which forced Facebook to launch these new set of privacy control tools for users. Facebook’s new privacy tools allow you to make clearer choices about:
- Manage Ads and app data settings.
- Current Information including relationship status, life events etc.
- Whether you want to opt for Facebook’s Facial Recognition or not.
So now let’s quickly see how we can perform a Privacy Checkup of your Facebook account.
1. First, launch Facebook app on your Smartphone. (Privacy Checkup feature is only available on mobile devices and not on website version for some reason).
2. Head on to Settings > Settings and Privacy > Privacy Shortcuts > Privacy Check-up
3. Now the first step is to decide your default target audience who views your posts. Here pick any one from “Only Me, Public, Friends Only or Customized”.
4. Next, you will review your profile information whether it is public or custom. Here you can control with whom you want to share your basic account info like email ID, relationship status etc.
5. In the third section, you get to control the app data sharing settings. You can change the privacy settings for app and, if you want, delete an app and block it from accessing your data again.
6. In case you wish to remove or block a certain app from accessing your Facebook account data tap on “X” and then hit the “Delete App” button.
In this way you can get a quick privacy checkup tour of your Facebook account and manage your privacy settings in one go!
Think What You Share
Apart from this, you should try and be extra careful about what information you post on Facebook. Facebook is the easiest access option for anyone to retrieve your personal information including email address, contact number, address and more. So, by managing your privacy settings you get more power to control your account.
P.S. Take charge of your own privacy (Before it’s too late)