With the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal regarding Facebook’s use of private data, the issue of privacy came back to the forefront. While most of us are aware of the idea of a digital footprint and how difficult it is to scrub your personal information from the web, many were outraged in that Facebook was collecting data in a way which they didn’t expect or consent to – especially for people who don’t even have a Facebook account in the first place. With a large #deletefacebook campaign currently underway and the value of the company plummeting over the last few days, many are wondering if the company is here to stay into the future. While Facebook isn’t in such dire straits at this point in time, many are wondering how they can up their privacy as much as possible while using the platform. Here’s a guide on how to hide the Facebook last active notification on your profile in order to keep information regarding your activity on Facebook more guarded and less publicly available.
The Facebook last active feature informs your friends when you were last active on the site, and the company does so by tracking your activity on the web. Additionally, the Facebook messenger app will show all of your friends when you’re online – perhaps opening you up to interaction when you weren’t’ in the mood to chat. While the Facebook last active feature isn’t necessarily nefarious on its own, it’s another instance of the company tracking users – a problem that many people are now hoping to avoid.
In order to hide your online status by disabling the Facebook last active feature, you can activate “invisible” mode and keep your Facebook last active time from showing on your friends list.
The process to disable the Facebook last active feature is pretty simple. Just open your Facebook Messenger App, go to the “People” tab and then tap “Active” at the very top. This will show you a list of all of your friends that are active on the messenger app, and you can disable the toggle button next to your name to get rid of your Facebook last active notice.
There are some downsides to this situation, in that you won’t be able to see when your friends are online either. However, you can tap a contact in the list to see whether they’re online – meaning that you can’t see Facebook last active at a glance, but you’ll be able to see it upon a closer examination.
After following these steps, your Facebook last active status should be gone, and people won’t be able to see when you’re active. This is just a small step towards increasing your privacy on the website that many have complained is becoming increasingly invasive. While the public backlash seems to be prompting some responses from Facebook, the fact remains that the company has their hands on a significant amount of your data – whether it will ever be possible to completely erase that remains to be seen.
