Meta has confirmed that Facebook is getting a feature that displays the history of links the user has clicked on in the last 30 days. It will soon be available to everyone on the Android and iOS apps. The company says Link History is a useful tool for consumers to have “their browsing activity saved in one place,” so they “never miss a link again.”
According to the help page, the tool will be released to all users “over time,” so it may take a while to be available out there.
The link history is appearing to users in a pop-up, which asks them to confirm the configuration. You can also turn it off: open a link, tap the three dots in the bottom-right corner, then turn off link history permission. In this case, Facebook promises to delete the data within 90 days.
Facebook and Instagram monitor links and more
By leaving the history on, the user agrees that Meta “may use your information to improve ads across the technologies” of the company. There is an option to turn off the feature, but it is not known exactly to what extent this actually protects privacy
Tracking clicked links, for example, is nothing new. Meta’s social media apps open websites in the built-in browser. In 2022, a researcher discovered that these apps inject a keylogger JavaScript code, tracking where the user taps and what they type on the page. This isn’t exclusive to Facebook and Instagram — so does TikTok.
It’s unclear if this type of information continues to be collected when you turn off Link History. In addition, the option to turn off history is not available to those who access Facebook through the browser, which can be considered a limitation on privacy protection.