The EU is forcing Facebook to be more private worldwide

Facebook is making global changes to its privacy policy in accordance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. The firm will let users review information about how Facebook uses their data and decide what and how they share on Facebook in a series of changes which roll out first in Europe this week.

“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” Facebook’s  Erin Egan and Ashlie Beringer, said, explaining the company’s rationale. We’ve brought together hundreds of employees across product, engineering, legal, policy, design and research teams. We’ve also sought input from people outside Facebook with different perspectives on privacy, including people who use our services, regulators and government officials, privacy experts, and designers.”

Facebook will remind users if they want to to use data from partners in order to share ads, as well as aking them what kind of data they want to share on their profile. When users make a Facebook profile, they are prompted to fill in things like region, gender, education, jb etc. The firm will ask users to review if they still want this data up, or if they would delete it or restrict its visibility to friends (presumably vetted).

Facebook is introducing a new facial recognition system which it will turn on in the EU and Canada. The firm will allow users the option to turn it off, as well as keep it off specifically for users under 18.

This and more,  are just some of the changes the firm is making to Facebook in compliance with Europe’s new privacy laws.

Via Facebook.