New privacy controls out soon
Facebook announced a series of changes on Wednesday to give users more control over their data, after a huge data scandal which has wiped more than $100 billion from its stock market value.
The company has faced a global outcry after a whistleblower revealed, on March 17, that data from 50 million users was improperly harvested to target US and British voters in close-run elections.
“The last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies, and to help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data,” Erin Egan, vice president and chief privacy officer, and Ashlie Beringer, vice president and deputy general counsel at Facebook, wrote in a blog post.
“So in addition to Mark (Zuckerberg)’s announcements last week – cracking down on abuse of the Facebook platform, strengthening our policies, and making it easier for people to revoke apps’ ability to use your data – we’re taking additional steps in the coming weeks to put people in more control over their privacy.”
The measures come ahead of a landmark European Union data protection law in May. The social network will add a new “Privacy Shortcuts” menu which will let users worldwide review what they’ve shared and delete it, as well as features enabling them to download their data and move it to another service.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation enters into force on May 25 and requires companies to give people a “right to portability”, namely to take their data with them.
It also introduces hefty fines for companies breaking the law, running up to 4% of global revenues.
On Tuesday, a source revealed that Zuckerberg plans to testify before US congress as he bows to pressure from lawmakers insisting he explain how 50 million users’ data ended up in the hands of a political consultancy.
Facebook said the company had received invitations to testify before Congress and that they were talking to legislators.
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