Facebook has announced that it’s proposing new updates to its terms of service, data policy and privacy settings page.
The privacy settings have been moved and cleaned up on Facebook mobile, making it easier for users to control their personal information.
The menu now features shortcuts to help users secure their accounts, confirm personal information, control ads and manage who can see the user’s posts and profile information.
The terms of service and data policy changes do not bring in new rights to collect or share data, but rather changes related to features that are already part of Facebook, such as the platform’s marketplace.
Over the next seven days, users will be able to provide feedback on the terms of service and data policy and once that’s done, Facebook will push the new terms to all users.
Additionally, Facebook is now being more open about how personalization works on the service, how the platform utilizes data, and why it’s needed to allow for custom ads and friend suggestions.
The company also revealed how it shares services and infrastructure between its different subsidiaries like Oculus and WhatsApp. The new terms make it clear that Facebook, Messenger and Instagram are now all under the new data policy.
Further, Facebook is clearing up what data it’s gathering from devices like smartphones and computers. Finally, the terms now share what data it scrapes when users allow Facebook to sync contacts, which includes call and SMS history.
This afternoon Facebook revealed that approximately 622,161 Canadian users have had their personal information shared with political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica.
Worldwide, Facebook says 87 million users had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica, meaning the Canadian statistic represents 0.7 percent of those impacted globally.
Finally, Facebook also recently launched a bulk app removal tool following these privacy tools.
Source: Facebook
