BRUSSELS - Facebook has bowed to pressure from the European Commission and consumer authorities by revising its terms, making it clear what it does with users’ data and taking responsibility when data has been mishandled by third parties.
The world’s largest social network is under fire on both sides of the Atlantic over a number of privacy-related issues that have exposed the passwords of millions of users. The European Commission said the changes in comprehensive and plain language mean users will now see how Facebook uses their data to develop profiling activities and target advertising to finance itself.
“Now, users will clearly understand that their data is used by the social network to sell targeted ads,” commission justice commissioner Vera Jourova said in a statement. The company will only unilaterally change terms and conditions where the changes are reasonable and will keep content deleted by users only when requested by enforcement authorities and up to 90 days.