How to prevent Facebook from sharing your personal data

Facebook is the juggernaut of the social media industry. It is so big and important that it is almost indispensable if you plan to connect with your friends and family. With platforms like Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads under its umbrella, Facebook plays a unique role in our social life, but often comes at the expense of privacy.

Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light in 2018, Facebook’s data practice has not only come under the scanner but has shown how big tech companies make money with their user data. It may not be too late to take control of your data away from the social media giant though, if the scandal has left a bitter taste in your mouth. You can prevent Facebook from sharing your personal data with Meta. Let’s look at how to restrict the platform from doing so.

Accessing and downloading your Facebook information

As soon as Facebook’s data practice became apparent, the social media company was forced to allow its users to download an archive to see all the data it had collected over the years. Once the download is ready, Facebook will create an HTML (or JSON file) and notify you.

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Facebook then gives you a four-day time limit to save this archive on your device. Here are the steps to access and download your Facebook information.

1. Visit the Facebook homepage and sign in with your credentials.

2. Click on your profile picture on the right-side corner.

3. Navigate to ‘Settings & privacy.’

4. Click on ‘Settings,’ scroll down to ‘Download your information’ and tap on ‘View.’

5. Click on ‘Request a download’ and choose ‘Complete copy.’

6. Click on the ‘Submit request’ button to confirm your request for data.

7. Tap ‘Download’ once your data is ready.

Facebook support: Limit the apps and website settings

Once you have downloaded your information and see that Facebook is sharing more information about you than you may have thought, you can limit the social media company from sharing the same. The first step is to limit the apps and websites that have access to your information. Go to Settings & privacy > Apps and Websites to see all the apps with access to your data on Facebook.

Click ‘View’ and ‘Edit’ to see what’s shared and a pop-up window will show the information each app can access. Now, change the settings to keep the app connected to Facebook but restrict the information it can access. You can also completely remove some apps and websites from accessing your information altogether if you don’t intend to use them again.

Meta accounts: Turn off Facebook activity

While Facebook actively shares your information with other apps and websites, it also keeps track of your online activity elsewhere. This ability to keep track of your online activity even when you are not on Facebook itself is called off-Facebook activity and you can turn it off if you want to restrict Facebook from collecting your personal information outside its domain.

To do this, go to Settings & Privacy > Settings > Meta Accounts Center > Your information and permissions > Your activity off Meta technologies. Please note the term “off Meta technologies” which refers to Facebook’s tracking even when you’re not using Facebook, Instagram, or an Oculus. Click ‘Recent Activity’ to see the full list of shares.

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You can clear all the information that Facebook already has about you by clicking on “Clear previous activity” or click on “Disconnect specific activity” to erase select site connections now and into the future. This will prevent you from using Facebook to log into other sites.

Manage future activity

The last setting is called “Manage future activity” and it is a global setting that allows you to either fully allow all connected information or totally disconnect them. Please note these steps are just an attempt to restrict Facebook from accessing and sharing your personal information but it doesn’t completely stop Facebook and other sites from tracking your online activity.

Check up on your privacy

One thing every Facebook user should do is complete a full privacy check-up. This gives you information such as who can see what you share and explains how to secure your account. You can go to “Who Can See What You Share” and restrict your personal information such as hometown and birthdate to be a piece of security information and set that to “only me” so others don’t see this information.

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You can also limit who can see your full friends list or list of pages you follow under the Friends and following section. By limiting this list, you can stop spammers from using this list to find names to make fake profiles and scam you.

While the above steps are a way to restrict Facebook from sharing your personal information or collecting your information outside its own apps and services, it is not a fool proof solution. The only way to get full freedom from the tracking and privacy invasion of Facebook is by deleting (not deactivating) your account.