Facebook has changed the terms of its privacy policy, in response to intense criticism from users and online privacy campaigners.
It comes with just days to go before a well-publicised mass walkout (31st May) over terms of use in respect of privacy and growing media opposition, most notably from the NY Times. In the last few weeks, it seems that everyone has been keen to point out that Facebook’s privacy settings are a ‘bewildering tangle of options’, and their privacy statement, to which we all willingly sign-up, has increased in length by almost 600% since 2005, making it longer even than the US Constitution.
Presumably there have been some late nights and early mornings for founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his lawyers at Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters.
A walkout could quickly spread and would cost Facebook dear, since the ever-growing audience that the FB Ads team relies upon to constantly push up ad prices would be ever-growing no more.
In a letter to every Facebook advertiser, the company says:
Hi
Facebook will roll out changes today that will make it easier for our users to understand and control their privacy settings. As this change will have an impact on our users, we wanted to let you, a valued advertising partner, know about it. Please note that this change will not affect your advertising campaigns and there is no action required on your part.
Facebook is a company that moves quickly, constantly innovating and launching new products to improve the user experience. The feedback we heard from users was that in our efforts to innovate, some of our privacy settings h ad become confusing.
We believe in listening to our users and taking their feedback into account whenever possible. We think the following changes address these concerns by providing users with more control over their privacy settings and making them more simple to use.
Starting today, Facebook will:
– Provide an easy-to-use “master” control that enables users to set who can see the content they share through Facebook. This enables users to choose, with just one click, the overall privacy level they’re comfortable with for the content they share on Facebook. Of course, users can still use all of the granular controls we’ve always offered, if they wish.
– Significantly reduce the amount of information that must be visible to everyone on Facebook. Facebook will no longer require that users’ friends and connections are visible to everyone. Only Name, Profile Picture, Networks and Gender must be publicly available. Users can opt to make all other connections private.
– Make it simple to control whether other applications and websites access any user information. While a majority of our users love Facebook apps and Facebook-enhanced websites, some may prefer not to share their information outside of Facebook. Users can now opt out with just one click.
I encourage you to take a moment to read our CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post and check out the new Facebook Privacy Page.
Thanks,
The Facebook Ads Team
Facebook must be hoping that the measures are enough – and gain sufficient coverage – to limit any damage.
We’ll see on Monday.
The social network continues to refuse to install a help button for children who suspect they’re being groomed by a paedophile.