If, like most people, you are concerned about your privacy when using social media, specifically Facebook, Mozilla Firefox has an ideal fix for you. The fix comes in the form of an extension for their popular Firefox browser called Facebook Container. The extension was dreamed up as a way to battle back against the increasing appetite that the large tech giants have for harvesting the personal data of their consumers.
Facebook Container Firefox addon
How does Facebook Container work
The clever software package isolates your Facebook identity into a separate container that isolates it from the rest of your internet use. This solution prevents Facebook from following you around the internet and harvesting the data for advertising purposes. The company is one of the world’s largest advertisers and, as such, benefits hugely from the dataset that it amasses from its huge client database. This action means the company benefits significantly from following its clients around the internet after they leave the site.
This extension isolates your data from Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger into a separate container making it harder to track your activity on other websites via third-party cookies.
Limitations of Facebook Container
Please be mindful that the Facebook Container application only prevents new data from being transferred to the social media behemoth and does not control any of your personal information that they already have. Mozilla has worked hard on helping Facebook users protect their privacy, and Mozilla does not use your data either.
Unsurprisingly, many consumers are now looking to ensure their safety online. A sharp rise in the surreptitious use of personal data and a lack of control or responsibility from the big players in the industry means that not many people out there are truly looking out for consumers above their own interests, and Mozilla’s move is a good step in this direction.
How to use the Facebook container Firefox Add-in
1] Simply open the add-in page here and click on Add to Firefox. A pop-up will ask your permission to allow the add-in to integrate with the Firefox browser.
2] Type about:addons in the address bar and press Enter. Verify that the Facebook container add-in is enabled. If it is enabled, it will show the option to disable it and vice-versa.
That’s it! Use Facebook without risking your data now.
Now, all your Facebook links will open within the Container and non-Facebook links outside the container. This facility is limited to the Firefox browser only, which means that the Container won’t work if you open Firefox with any other browser.
Read: Fix Facebook when it’s not working in Firefox
A huge step!
This should be an industry-leading step from a firm that, although quiet of late, has generally been a force for good in the industry and has often taken it upon itself to fight the good fights in the industry. The move could be a powerful draw for those who are more worried about their online safety than they had been. Whether it throws Mozilla back into the limelight is less certain, but it will certainly do their brand no harm in the long run.
Hopefully, other big players in the industry, such as Google and Microsoft, now follow Mozilla’s leading stance and help to protect their consumers better, but as both of these companies also profit heavily from their advertising exploits, it seems highly unlikely that they will be driven to do so. This means Mozilla is really a lone fighter in a war that, unfortunately, could be stacked against them. But here’s hoping that the rest of the industry takes it on board rather than ignoring the potential. It’s about time the industry was held accountable for people’s data; perhaps this is the desperately needed catalyst.
