Today, the company is making a more concerted effort in terms of privacy in the EU. On Monday, Facebook announced it is publishing privacy principles. This marks the first time the social network has published its privacy practices in Europe. Additionally, the company will roll out education videos to guide users in controlling who sees their information. The videos will focus on how to manage data on the network, specifically the data Facebook uses to show people targeted ads. Also, the clips will provide information on deleting old posts. Facebook will also provide details on what it does with user data when an account is closed. The changes were announced on Monday by Erin Egan, the company’s chief privacy officer. Egan says the company has never published its privacy principles before. The information will show how the company manages user data. “We recognize that people use Facebook to connect, but not everyone wants to share everything with everyone – including with us. It’s important that you have choices when it comes to how your data is used,” Egan says.
Moving with Changing Laws
With more than 2 billion users worldwide, Facebook has a major responsibility. The EU is pushing privacy matters further with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Launching on May 25, the legislation is the biggest transformation of personal privacy rules on the continent ever. Facebook wants to ensure it is compliant before the changes are made: “We put products through rigorous data security testing. We also meet with regulators, legislators and privacy experts around the world to get input on our data practices and policies,” the blog post said.
