Facebook published a list of privacy principles, which detail the company’s commitment to protecting user data, and also launched a set of data management tutorial videos earlier this week. Both moves are (presumably) linked to preparations for the EU’s stringent new data protection law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), coming into effect this May.
The social network, which boasts about 2 billion members worldwide, also said it is rolling out a new webpage that will put core privacy settings in one place. This will (allegedly) make it easier for people to control what information they are sharing on the website.
Fear the GDPR – because Facebook does
According to Gizmodo, the GDPR heightens the privacy standards for all companies that collect data from EU citizens. It mandates companies inform people how their data is collected, whether it’s sold or shared, requires consent before data collection happens and sets a strict 72-hour deadline for companies to make the public aware of data breaches. Violating the GDPR comes with enormous fines: up to 4 percent of a company’s annual global revenue. For Facebook, that could mean billions.
To remove any ambiguity about whether it’s taking this law seriously, Facebook’s internal privacy principles and fuller privacy breakdown seem tailored to the terms of the GDPR. For instance, among Facebook’s principles is “You own and can delete your information” – and the GDPR has “right to access” and “right to erasure” clauses.
Why should you care?
All these changes may mean some positive headlines for everyone’s fickle social media Grandma, Facebook; but, as Gizmodo suggested, there’s something unsettling about how the company is treating regulation as an opportunity to up-scale their privacy policies and thus, perhaps, be absolved for myriad previously occurring privacy missteps.
But even more significant is the tide this move seems to indicate. All companies that collect data from EU citizens must mind the GDPR. That means Facebook — as well as toy companies, content and lifestyle spaces, and probably whatever it is that you do, too.
