Location tracking on Facebook is changing. Meta is reducing the usage of a number of local-based functions such as Nearby Friends, Location History and weather alerts.
Meta provided more details of the upcoming change, explaining that these functions will no longer be in use or available after 31st May 2022, and at that stage, Meta will stop collecting the data used for these services. On August 1st, Meta announced that all previously stored data related to these services will be deleted.
Facebook released a statement giving more information about the change: “While we’re deprecating some location-based features on Facebook due to low usage, people can still use Location Services to manage how their location tracking information is collected and used.”
There is a suggestion that this move comes with a long-term plan. Users may be less likely to completely switch off data tracking if there is less involvement in the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompts.
The change may come with the steady increase of data privacy regulations all over Europe, this move may potentially be an effort to keep ahead of the current trends.
Meta may be trying to preempt any potential legal challenges that would come with changes in regulations, especially after Google and Meta both faced heavy fines around issues of user data tracking.
No matter what the reason is, with the change in location tracking, Facebook is set to lose a significant section of data that it could make good use of in other elements of the business, such as increasing ad revenue.
