In a move to give users better and more visible control of their public-facing information, Facebook has announced that it is bringing back the ‘View As Public’ profile feature alongside a new “Edit Public Details” button directly on profiles.
The move was announced in a tweet (of all places), confirming the change:
Today, we're making it easier for people to manage their publicly visible information on Facebook with two updates: (1) we’re bringing back the “View As Public” feature and (2) we’re adding an “Edit Public Details” button directly to profiles. pic.twitter.com/zI5bVwodjp
— Facebook (@Facebook) May 14, 2019
The “View As Public” feature was initially removed back in September last year, after the company suffered a major data breach after hackers used its code to execute a massive hack that exposed 50 million users. While the company did quickly fix and patch the code, it has taken just over six months for the feature to return.
The return of the “View As Public” feature, which enables users to quickly check and edit what info is publicly available, could also help prevent further breaches and fits into the company’s new “the future is private” mantra.
The new features are rolling out to users, so you might want to see if you have the new features available via an app update.
