Users can control the Ads on their Timeline — Meta’s Updated Privacy Policy Data privacy policies have been a major problem for tech companies over the years. Facebook one of Meta’s platforms has been at the centre of controversy around harvesting users data, though the social media giant has denied these allegations from time to time. Meta recently updated its Privacy Policy and Terms of ServiceTo make it simple for users to understand the use of their information. According to Michel Protti, Chief Privacy Officer, Product at Meta, this new update won’t collect, use, share or sell users’ data in any new way. “We’ve added more detailed explanations in our Privacy Policy, including about how we use and share information with third parties. And we’ve paired it with the Privacy Center and new controls to manage your experience, like who sees your posts and the topics you want to see ads about”. Michel said. Formerly known under the Data Policy, the Privacy Policy was created in response to user feedback and experts. “Our goal with this update is to be more clear about our data practices; one way we’ve done this is through additional details and examples throughout. At Meta, we’ve always set out to build personalized experiences that provide value without compromising your privacy. So, it’s on us to have strong protections for the data we use and be transparent about how we use it.”, Michel added. This updated Meta Privacy Policy covers Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Messenger, and other Meta products, except WhatsApp, which is not covered. Meta has explored user-centric privacy design to increase visibility of its data policy. Meta has released a new update that will give users the following:
- Here are some examples of the types information it collects
- more detail about how it uses information across its products to improve people’s experiences
- Find out more about the process and how it collects location-related data
- more examples of how it uses the information to personalize people’s experiences
- Provide additional information about your audience and the settings that you can control who can see your content or activity.
- How it works with vendors, partners, service providers, and third parties
Meta provides users with a new way for them to manage their audience. Users will be able to easily control who sees their updates on Facebook with these new default settings at the post level. Until now, users’ default audience for updates matches the audience you recently select, which means that if your last posted update was made available to the public, then all posts that come afterward would be public as well. These settings will allow users to select a default audience. This default audience will apply to all new posts on Facebook unless you make any changes to a specific post. This new setting makes it easy for users to share updates with the people they prefer on their timelines. New ways have been created for users to control the ads that they see. Meta recently centralized the Ad Topics, Interest Categories and Facebook controls into one control. This will allow users set their preferences across ad topic that indicates the target categories advertisers reach out to and the content ad. Meta seems to have implemented several restrictions to its data policy since the Cambridge Analytica scandal to reduce abuse.
