Facebook is asking users to update their notifications
stream, as the parent company Meta is altering the Location Services setting in
the app. The change includes removing some of the local-based functions in the
app, including Nearby Friends, Weather Alerts, and Location History.
According to Meta, the services will be taken down on May 31st
and Facebook will stop gathering users’ information through them. Additionally,
any previous information collected through these settings on accounts that they
were enabled on, will also be deleted on the 1st of August.
About this decision, Facebook explained that it is doing so
because of the reduced usage of these services. While the company hasn’t stated
so itself, another reason behind this move could also be related to reducing
the amount of notifications.
There is also a possibility that Meta is under pressure from
data privacy regulations in Europe that found that Facebook has been using
users’ data to match up location info via device accelerometer data that it had
started to use as an alternative tool of location tracking. As a result, users
have been manipulated into having their data collected regardless of declining
app tracking.
Since Meta takes the data tracking business seriously, it
could be expected that instead of the company entirely giving up on its tracking
services, it would soon come up with new regulations.
