Facebook’s CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg have been facing trial since the disclosure of leaking user’s data to the third party. However, things are going to get better as many of the claims are being made by the CEO to improve privacy concerns and respect users’ data.
Facebook will now allow users to make choices about how they want their data to be used. The step has not been taken after the Cambridge Analytica Scandal; rather it was in compliance with the new privacy law given by European Union known as General Data Protection Regulation. It will start to roll out to the users worldwide.
It is more about the consent. Facebook will ask users to declare whether they agree to it using data from outside sources to target them with ads. Moreover, it will check whether Facebook is eligible to make use of people’s religious, political and relationship information.
In addition, the company will ask users whether they agree to have their faces analyzed with Facebook’s Facial recognition. It is worth to notice here that Facebook is using facial recognition on people outside Canada and EU. However, the company used facial recognition feature in the European Union before 2012. However, the privacy regulators constrained the practice due to lack of consent on behalf of users.
The Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer and Deputy General Counsel, Erin Egan and Ashlie Beringer wrote in a blog post, “While the substance of our data policy is the same globally, people in the EU will see specific details relevant only to people who live there, like how to contact our Data Protection Officer under GDPR. We want to be clear that there is nothing different about the controls and protections we offer around the world”.
The question is whether these changes will make Facebook-compliant. Well, the things are yet to be seen. The EU’s privacy regulators will examine it closely but one thing is obvious that Facebook is trying to give permissions to people as much as possible.
The users will be presented with options “Accept and Continue,” along with a visible box that reads “Manage Data Setting”.
The settings can be well understood by the words of TechCrunch’s Journalist, Josh Constine, “Facebook’s consent flow starts well enough with the screen above offering a solid overview of why it’s making changes for GDPR and what you’ll be reviewing. But with just an ‘X’ up top to back out, it’s already training users to speed through by hitting that big blue button at the bottom.”
When users will be asked to accept or reject Facebook’s new terms of service, users will see a big blue button stating “I Accept”. On the other hand, the option to decline the terms is not visible and marked, “See Your Options”. It might not please the EU Regulators.
If the regulators find that Facebook is not meeting the requirements, the company could face charges as high as 4% of its global annual revenues.
