Privacy means only one thing. But when the privacy concerns the internet, it becomes a complex matter.
Meta is the tech giant, known for being the entity behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more. And what it's also known for, is the way it tracks users all over the web, apps, and beyond.
The company has for many years collected data about the links that users click from within its apps and its websites, and this time, it's trying to divert that fact, by introducing what it calls 'Link History.'
This feature is planned to be on automatically by default, although users can choose to opt-out.
While the move is being praised by some privacy advocates as a step toward improved transparency, things go more than just that.
According to Emil Vazquez, a policy communications manager at Meta:
"It makes it easier for people to revisit links they’ve clicked on in the past and can improve the quality of the ads they see."
It's pro-privacy because it provides insight to users about the kind of tracking that take place when users use Meta's apps and open links through its in-app browser.
It also has a 30-day retention cycle, which is also a win for data privacy, since the feature means that the company will not retain information within it for a longer period of time.
Facebook said that it automatically deletes users’ Link Histories after 90 days if users opt out of the feature.
However, some people quickly spot how Link History can be used by advertisers for ad-targeting purposes, in a more discreet manner.
First of, advertisers have long known that information when it get past a certain amount of time, that information becomes less and less valuable.
As for their interest in Meta's user data, the longer Meta holds that user data, the less the data reveal people's interest in the moment.
Link History makes this data transparent to users, and also for advertisers.
And this means an advantage to Meta.
Second, Meta may be motivated to give users the opt-out option only as a means by which to entrench further its legal ability to continue collecting this data, by saying that it’s a "standard practice" for apps with in-app browsers that collect user information.
Third, the availability of Link History means that Meta has no plans whatsoever to stop tracking users.
And thanks to the complex settings Meta has, even if users have manually turned off other forms of data-collection within Facebook, such as the platform’s Off-Facebook Activity tracking setting, they are still automatically opted into Link History.