Facebook just made it a little easier to keep location data private
It's been a tough week for Facebook — especially after UK lawmakers likened Mark Zuckerberg and other execs to "digital gangsters."
Conveniently, days after that damning report dropped, Facebook released a new security feature. Now, Android users will be able to limit location sharing in the Facebook app.
Apple already gives iPhone users three options to choose from: refusing to share location information, always sharing it, and only sharing only when the app is in use.
Android, sadly, does not give users all of those options. You're either sharing all of the time or not sharing at all.
That's why Facebook is giving users the option to turn their "Background Location" on or off in the Android app. Turn it off, and the app won't share your location data when it's not in use. That might limit features like "Nearby Friends," but also give you peace of mind.
Notably, Facebook said it wouldn't be "collecting any new information as a result of this update."
Facebook said that every Android user sharing their location information in the app would get a notification telling them about the new feature. If you never turned on "Location History," you won't get an alert.
Sure, it might not make up for Cambridge Analytica or the many other privacy scandals Facebook has been involved in, but, um, it's a start?
Topics Cybersecurity Facebook Privacy
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
