Facebook Container: Quarantine for All Your Facebook Activity

Facebook scandals are multiplying, as is pressure on the social network to be more responsible with the data it obtains from its users. But beyond articles and studies recommending that users close their accounts, there are millions of users out there convinced that Facebook still has some utility in their digital lives. For them, Mozilla offers Facebook Container, a Firefox-compatible extension that isolates your session on the social network from the rest of the pages, limiting its tracking and association capabilities.

There are still many things to correct on Facebook, and looking at the attitude of its leaders, most likely only a high-level political intervention will make them change. Of course, something like that has consequences. Freedom of expression, fake news, the right to be forgotten... Facebook can come out of all this in one piece, or end up in pieces.

So what happens to everyday users? Well, we have taught you how hidden profiles work. We shared resources that allow you to delete posts in bulk. And our guide to deleting accounts is still valid. However, there is also the possibility of placing limits on the social network. Isolate your sessions in such a way that its tracking and monitoring capabilities on other sites are limited. For that, there is Facebook Container.

Facebook Container is an official Mozilla extension developed for its Firefox browser. Every time you enter Facebook, Instagram, or another site under Zuckerberg and company's control, the extension will quarantine those tabs, and nothing you do will leave them. When you install Facebook Container for the first time, it will close your Facebook tabs, delete every cookie linked to the social network, and log you out. When you open your next session, you'll notice that the word 'Facebook' appears in the address bar with a fence icon. This indicates that the tab has been separated from the rest.

You can use Facebook as usual inside Facebook Container. If you click on an external link to Facebook or browse a different web page, they will be loaded outside the container. If you click on the "Share on Facebook" buttons on other tabs, they will be loaded in Facebook Container, but don't forget that simply using those buttons sends information to the social network about the web page from which you share that content.

What stops working (in theory) with Facebook Container? First, comments and "Like" buttons integrated into other tabs outside the container. That prevents Facebook from associating information about your external activity with your identity. Web pages that enable account creation or login with Facebook credentials will also not work properly.

The latest update to Facebook Container was published earlier this month, so if you are a Firefox rider and frequently use the social network, it's not a bad idea to add this extension. Obviously, that doesn't prevent Facebook from designing new methods to obtain additional data from its users, but if Facebook Container lets us put a couple of stones in the way, so be it.

Official site and download: Click here