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The Facebook button is disappearing from websites as consumers demand better privacy
Logging in with Facebook credentials was once available across much of the Internet, but websites have been turning that function off.
Science & Tech
Until about a month ago, shoppers on Dell’s
website looking for a new laptop could log in using their Facebook
credentials to avoid creating a new username and password. That option is now gone.
Dell isn’t alone. Other big brands, including Best Buy
, Ford Motor
, Pottery Barn, Nike
, Patagonia, Match
and Amazon’s
video-streaming service Twitch have removed the ability to sign on with Facebook. It’s a marked departure from just a few years ago, when the Facebook login was plastered all over the internet, often alongside buttons that let you sign in with Google
or LinkedIn.
Jen Felch, Dell’s chief digital and chief information officer, said people stopped using social logins, for reasons that include concerns over security, privacy and data-sharing.
“We really just looked at how many people were choosing to use their social media identity to sign in, and that just has shifted over time,” Felch said. “One thing that we see across the industry is more and more security risks or account takeovers, whether that’s Instagram or Facebook or whatever it might be, and I just think we’re observing people making a decision to isolate that social media account versus having other connections to it.”
The disappearing login is the latest sign of Facebook’s diminishing influence on the internet following more than a decade of spectacular growth. In the past year, the company’s business has been beset by Apple’s
iOS privacy change, which made it harder to target ads, a deteriorating economy, competition from short-video service TikTok, and reputational damage after a whistleblower leaked documents showing Facebook knew of the harm caused by many of its products.
Revenue in the third quarter is expected to drop for a second straight period. Late last year, Facebook changed its name to Meta, reflecting an effort to move the company away from social media and toward a futuristic metaverse, where people work, play and learn in a virtual world. And in a nod to the shift in consumer behavior, Meta said in July that VR users will be able to access headsets without their Facebook credentials.
A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
Representatives from Ford, Patagonia and Twitch declined to comment on why they removed the Facebook button, while Best Buy, Pottery Barn, Nike and Match didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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