Jeff John Roberts here, filling in for Adam.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is talking tough. Days after an earnings call in which he declared his new goal isn’t to be “liked” but to be “understood,” he told a Utah confab that his company’s commitment to free speech is “going to piss off a lot of people.” ( Political ads will remain allowed on the platform.)
The company’s approach to consumer privacy might do the same. Case in point: Facebook’s “clear history” button that Zuckerberg promised to deliver in the wake of 2018’s Cambridge Analytica data breach, implying people would be able to opt out of Facebook collecting their data from third parties.
Now, the new tool is finally available in the U.S. but, alas, it is virtually ineffective. Facebook collects data about you from websites and apps via a tracking tool called Pixel. Until now, Pixel has reported to Facebook what you do without your knowledge. The platform’s new feature lets you see who’s been passing on your data. The way Zuck put it: It’s a “new way to view and control your off-Facebook activity.”
In my case, it showed hundreds of companies, mostly media sites and travel and vacation sites. This was unsettling but not on the scale of what Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler discovered. Polling his colleagues, Fowler found that sites had tattled to Facebook about their visits to a sperm measurement service, medical insurers, and a credit agency. While Facebook deserves credit for finally disclosing such data, the company won’t let you do much about it. In that sense, the “clear history” button is basically a farce. Facebook is still gobbling up your data. All the button does is instruct Facebook not to blend that third-party data with its own collected data when it offers you up to advertisers. (The website Gizmodo was more blunt: Its account of the feature has the headline “Facebook’s ‘Clear History’ Tool Doesn’t Clear Shit.”)
What’s more, the “Clear History” button is buried deep in the settings menu. Those who want to manage their “Off-Facebook” settings must also enter their password and navigate a series of pop-ups of notifications. The page feels designed to create as much friction as possible while users try to exercise privacy choices.
On top of everything, Facebook is also flying in the face of California’s landmark new privacy law that allows consumers to tell companies to delete their data and stop selling it. The company has contended that it doesn’t “sell” data per se, and that its arrangements with third parties are subject to a special exemption. Some lawyers dispute Facebook’s interpretation, and it may require a court ruling to set out the company’s actual privacy obligations.
So Zuckerberg seems sincere about an approach that will “piss off a lot of people”—including his own customers. It’s a bold strategy. But at a time when regulators are circling and investors are getting antsy about Facebook’s future, it may not be the best one.
Jeff John Roberts
Twitter: @jeffjohnroberts
Email: jeff.roberts@fortune.com
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
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