Facebook to change privacy controls

FACEBOOK yesterday announced a series of changes to give users more control over their data, after a huge data scandal which has wiped more than $100-billion (almost R1.18-trillion) 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,” vice-president and chief privacy officer Erin Egan and vicepresident and deputy general counsel at Facebook Ashlie Beringer wrote in a blog post.

“So in addition to Mark’s [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 have shared and delete it, as well as features enabling them to download their data and move it to another service. Facebook shares have fallen almost 18% since March 17.

Users’ data was improperly accessed by British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which was hired by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The company’s chief executive, Zuckerberg, has repeatedly apologised and bought full-page adverts in US and British newspapers promising to do more to restrict access to users’ information.

While Facebook said yesterday the changes it was announcing had been in the works for some time, it said the events of the past several days underscored their importance – Reuters