Meta-owned social media platform Facebook is discountinuing several of its services that tracked users’ real-time location due to “low usage," as recently spotted by 9to5Mac.
Facebook services like Nearby Friends, weather alerts, location history, and background location are few of the services that the social media giant is shutting due to “low usage." In a notification sent to people who have used the feature in the past, Facebook said that it will stop collecting data associated with these features on May 31 and will wipe any data stored on August 1.
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Facebook parent company Meta has confirmed the news to other publications as well, saying that it is discontinuing some location-based features on Facebook due to low usage, and people can still use location services to manage how their location information is collected and used.
Now, this does not mean that the social media giant will stop collecting location data altogether. As it states in the note to users, Facebook has said that it will continue collecting location information for other experiences to serve up relevant ads and locaation check-ins in line with its data.
Users can also view, download, or delete any location data that the plaltform save within the “Settings and Privacy" menu. Facebook says that if users fail to do that themselves, it will delete any stored data related to its discontinued services on August 1.
“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. 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. Facebook will otherwise continue collecting location information for other experiences as described in our Data Policy," Facebook’s message to users said.
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The services Facebook is discontinuing is mainly due to the lack of usage. Given that not many people used the service, it won’t affect a lot of people. Given Facebook’s reputation with data security, it may come as a relief to those who may have used the service at some point and do not trust Facebook with storing their data. Following is the message from Facebook:
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