Facebook To Discontinue “Nearby Friends” And Other Location Tracking Features

Last week, Facebook quietly announced that its location-based features like Nearby Friends reports will be discontinued by the end of the month. That means that the social media giant will drastically reduce the amount of our location data that it’s collecting.

“Because you’ve previously used Nearby Friends, Weather alerts, Location History or Background Location, we’re letting you know that these products and features will no longer be available after May 31, 2022,” Facebook said in an email to users. “Information you shared that was used for these experiences, including Location History and Background Location, will stop being collected after May 31, 2022, even if you have previously enabled them.”

It’s unclear why Facebook felt compelled to make this move now, or why it was announced quietly via in-app prompts and email notices. However, it’s safe to assume that the company is feeling the pressure from its many ongoing privacy controversies, and perhaps wanted to save itself one more headache in the future. The company also noted that it will delete all records of users’ location histories after August 1.

In the grand scheme of things for Facebook, these features probably didn’t have all that many users. But still, every little improvement that the platform can make for user privacy is a good thing.




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