Technology

Posted on March 28, 2018 by staff

Facebook gives users more control over data

Technology

Facebook is unveiling a raft of new measures to give its users more control over their privacy and personal information.

The social network has redesigned its privacy settings page, which now features shortcuts with images to make it easier to navigate.

Users can enable two-factor authentication, control what they share or have shared, manage who can see their posts and learn more about their ad preferences.

Facebook is also providing users with tools to delete any data that the social network holds on them – or simply to find out what data is being held.

The move follows a backlash against the social media giant after it emerged that a quiz app harvested 50 million Facebook profiles for data, which were then sent over to Cambridge Analytica.

In a blog post announcing the changes, chief privacy officer Erin Egan said most of the new updates have “been in the works for some time” but that the events of the past several days “underscore their importance”.

“Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data,” she said.

“We’ve heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed.”

“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 more in control of their privacy.”

Zuckerberg has apologised for mistakes that Facebook made in the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal and agreed to testify before Congress – although he has declined to appear before a Parliamentary committee.

Last week, the entrepreneur took out full-page ads in several US and UK newspapers to apologise for a “breach of trust”.