Insights
Industry
People
Culture
Brand Studio
Facebook Hub
Choueiri Group Deep Dives
OMD Corner
LEAD with ABG
Insights
Brand Studio
Facebook Hub
Choueiri Group Deep Dives
OMD Corner
LEAD with ABG
ABOUT US
CONTACT US
ADVERTISE WITH US
Insights Industry
Back
Facebook says it’s adding new ‘privacy experiences’. Here’s what it’s not saying.
By Communicate StaffThu, Apr 19 2018

Contact
facebook-says-its-adding-new-privacy-experiences-heres-what-its-not-saying

  • On April 4, Facebook updates or rather clarified its data use policy

  • On April 10, it launched the Data Abuse Bounty program rewarding users with $500 minimum for reporting data abuse

  • On April 17, Facebook announced compliances with EU’s GDPR to start with, which will be rolled out to everyone

 

It all started with the Cambridge Analytica controversy where Facebook came under fire for leaking the personal data of 87 million users to the data analytics company, which had a hand in the US elections. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg also appeared in front of the US Senate for a two-day testimony, which implies regulations are coming for the social media behemoth that also owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus.

Now, Facebook has announced new ‘privacy experiences’ for its users in compliance with GDPR. But, the company is going one step further to make these applicable to all users – not just Europeans. However, the changes will begin rolling out in Europe first.

“As soon as GDPR was finalized, we realized it was an opportunity to invest even more heavily in privacy. We not only want to comply with the law, but also go beyond our obligations to build new and improved privacy experiences for everyone on Facebook,” say Erin Egan, vice-president and chief privacy officer, Policy and Ashlie Beringer, vice-president and deputy general counsel in a blog post.

READ: Data privacy is not the only reason people are leaving Facebook

The post also adds that the changes are based on input from outsiders including regulators and government officials; although the specific governments and regulators have not been mentioned.

Let’s take a look at some of the changes:

Ads based on data from partners like websites and apps

 

What Facebook says: We’ll ask people to review information about this type of advertising, and to choose whether or not they want us to use data from partners to show them ads.

What it does not say: What exactly ‘review information’ means and how much control users have over these partners collecting the data in the first place

ALSO READ: Despite privacy concerns, why are marketers still spending on Facebook?

Profile information

What Facebook says: If you’ve chosen to share political, religious, and relationship information on your profile, we’ll ask you to choose whether to continue sharing and letting us use this information. As always, including this information on your profile is completely optional. We’re making it easier for people to delete it if they no longer want to share it.

What Facebook doesn’t say: This is pretty good for everyone except US users. As TechCrunch pointed out, “In the US, political views alongside political Pages and Events you interact with impact your overarching personality categories that can be targeted with ads. You can opt out of being targeted by those too. But your only option here is either to remove any info you’ve shared in these categories so friends can’t see it, or allow Facebook to use it to personalize the site. There’s no option to keep this stuff on your profile but not let Facebook use it.”

Allowing face recognition technology

What Facebook says: Our face recognition features help protect your privacy and improve your experiences, like detecting when others might be attempting to use your image as their profile picture and allowing us to suggest friends you may want to tag in photos or videos. As part of this update, we’re now giving people in the EU and Canada the choice to turn on face recognition.

READ: Who’s the latest to join the #deleteFacebook movement?

What Facebook doesn’t say: The facial recognition technology was banned in the EU, UK and Canada around 2012. In fact, it is currently in a class action lawsuit in the US for unauthorized use of the technology. The BBC reports that the lawsuit alleges that Facebook gathered biometric information without users’ explicit consent, which breaches the Illinois state law.

Parental controls for teens

What Facebook says: We’ve built many special protections into Facebook for all teens, regardless of location. For example, advertising categories for teens are more limited, and their default audience options for posts do not include “public.” We also keep face recognition off for anyone under age 18 and limit who can see or search specific information teens have shared, like hometown or birthday.

READ: Is Google gaining ground during the Facebook controversy?

Under GDPR, people between the ages of 13 and 15 in some EU countries need permission from a parent or guardian to allow some features on Facebook — seeing ads based on data from partners and including religious and political views or “interested in” on your profile. These teens will see a less personalized version of Facebook with restricted sharing and less relevant ads until they get permission from a parent or guardian to use all aspects of Facebook. Even where the law doesn’t require this, we’ll ask every teen if they want to see ads based on data from partners and whether they want to include personal information in their profiles.

What Facebook doesn’t say: The process of verifying parental consent is rather unclear. From what it currently seems, teens just need to select a Facebook friend or enter an email address, who will be asked to give consent. There’s no way of actually checking if that person is a parent.

There are several other changes too announced on the blog, which will be updated in time.

Although it seems that Facebook is trying to address users’ – and governments’ data privacy concerns – most of its efforts have been criticized by users as being superficial. For instance, when going through the Security Check, the ‘Accept’ button is the biggest with either a tiny cross to close or a not very visible ‘See your options’ hyperlink in case you don’t want to accept.

 

RELATED TOPICS
Advertising-Dubai Data Privacy Facebook Gdpr
MORE IN Industry
Industry
November 01, 2020 How to Build a Winning Gen Z Strategy on Mobile

App analytics and market data company, App Annie, have released a new report that sheds light on Gen Z’s mobile behavior, in order to help marketers develop effective strategies to reach them. 98% of Gen Z report owning a smartphone, on average receiving their first at the age of 10. They are also part of […]

Industry
October 28, 2020 Micro-Influencers Are Still an Important Channel in the Marketing Funnel

Experticity, the world’s largest community of influential category experts have released a new study that sheds new light on the importance of micro-influencers on the average consumer. The study was conducted with online interviews of more than 6,000 individuals from the United States drawn from Experticity’s micro-influencer network and the general population. In addition, more […]

Industry
October 28, 2020 Global Media Insight Report Provides Concise Picture of Media Trends in UAE & KSA

Market research companies eMarketer and Global Web Index have collaborated together to release the 10th edition of the global media intelligence report. The report is a detailed compilation of data and insights about internet users’ traditional and digital media usage in 42 key markets worldwide. Communicate will be highlighting the key trends that are shaping the […]

Industry
October 27, 2020 Socialbaker’s New Report Highlights Slow Return to Normalcy in Digital Space

Social Bakers, a global AI-powered social media marketing company has released the Q3 edition of their social media trends report. The report reveals where the industry is currently standing with regard to spending and engagement globally. Here are the key findings – ADVERTISING Worldwide ad spend increased by 56.4% in Q3 compared to where it […]

Subscribe to

our newsletter.

This site uses cookies: Find out more.

Logo
  • Insights
  • Industry
  • People
  • Culture
  • Brand Studio
  • Facebook Hub
  • Choueiri Group Deep Dives
  • OMD Corner
  • LEAD with ABG
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
NEWSLETTER

Get a monthly round-up of Communicate's best insights

© 2020 communicateonline.me
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
icon
icon
icon
icon
icon
© 2020 communicateonline.me