Facebook has announced it will begin rolling out changes to how it handles private data this week to comply with forthcoming EU rules, with European residents seeing the measures first.
The social network, which has been rocked by disclosures about the hijacking of personal data on tens of millions of its users, said on Wednesday it would start implementing "new privacy experiences" to comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which becomes effective on May 25.
"Everyone, no matter where they live, will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy on Facebook," said a statement from chief privacy officer Erin Egan and deputy general counsel Ashlie Beringer. "We’ll begin by rolling these choices out in Europe this week."
Under the new policy, Facebook users will be asked to review and make choices about adverts they receive, including whether they want Facebook to use data from third parties.
Facebook users will also be asked to choose what to share about the political, religious and relationship information on their profiles. Users will be allowed to opt in or out of use of facial recognition technology.
The statement said users would be told that facial recognition was optional, but that it could offer some benefit, such as being notified when someone was using an unauthorised picture.
AFP
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