Mozilla's new extension blocks Facebook from tracking users

Mozilla Firefox has launched an online extension that prevents Facebook from tracking users online activity. The extension named Facebook Container blocks Facebook from tracking users when they click on ads or links that take them off the site.

Once you install the Facebook Container extension, it deletes your Facebook cookies and logs you out of the platform. Now, when you visit Facebook, the website opens in a new Blue-coloured browser tab or "container" tab. Here you can log in to Facebook normally. Once you click on a non-Facebook link or navigate to a non-Facebook website in the URL bar, the pages load in another tab. However, if you click on a Facebook Share button in another tab it will load them within the Facebook container tab.

Because you will be logged into Facebook only in the Container, embedded Facebook comments and Like buttons in tabs outside the Facebook Container will not work. This prevents Facebook from associating information about your activity on websites outside of Facebook to your Facebook identity.

The move comes after the Cambridge Analytica controversy where the political consultancy firm allegedly gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million Facebook users to potentially benefit the Trump presidential campaign.