Facebook has clarified its user terms and conditions following demands from the European Commission (EC) for the social network to be more transparent about how it uses personal data and earns money through targeted advertising.
The EC announced on Tuesday that Facebook has agreed to add clearer terms which set out the process that Facebook users can take to delete their accounts.
The changes also mean that Facebook will explain to users how it saves data which Facebook users have deleted from the social network.
Vera Jourová, the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, called Facebook’s terms of service “misleading” last year.
Facebook has to comply with the EU’s suggested changes by June or it faces possible sanctions.
The changes were made following pressure on the social network by the European Commission and consumer protection organisation from across the EU.
Ms Jourová said: “Today Facebook finally shows commitment to more transparency and straight forward language in its terms of use. A company that wants to restore consumers trust after the Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal should not hide behind complicated, legalistic jargon on how it is making billions on people’s data.”
“Now, users will clearly understand that their data is used by the social network to sell targeted ads. By joining forces, the consumer authorities and the European Commission, stand up for the rights of EU consumers.”
The European Commission has taken a tough stance on US technology giants including Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google.
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Monday that “Europe must take the lead” on the introduction of a digital tax on revenues of large technology businesses.” data-reactid=”33″>EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Monday that “Europe must take the lead” on the introduction of a digital tax on revenues of large technology businesses.
“We are becoming an increasingly digital world and it will be a huge problem if we do not find a way to raise [digital] taxes,” Ms Vestager said.
EU member states have debated the so-called “GAFA” tax, named after Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, but have not yet agreed plans for its introduction.
Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Facebook’s managing director of EU Affairs, said: ““We’ve been doing a lot of work this year to better explain how Facebook works, what data we collect and how we use it. As part of these ongoing efforts, we’ll be updating our Terms of Service to be more clear about how Facebook makes money. Several of the updates are the result of our work with the European Consumer Protection Network (CPC), but we’ll be making the changes globally. We appreciate the CPC’s collaboration, and we’ll share more details on the updates when we roll them out in the coming months.”
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