Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Facebook
easy reading

Facebook simplifies its privacy policy so that you might actually read it this time

The shortened policy also hints towards its long-rumoured payments transfer service, but you still won’t have much control over how your data is used.

FACEBOOK IS UPDATING its privacy policy, and has provided the biggest hint that it will be soon entering the payments transfers industry.

The company is introducing these new terms and conditions by updating a number of policy pages. For one, it’s launching a new page called Privacy Basics, which are tutorials looking at how people see you on the site, what happens when you interact and what you see.

The new privacy policy has also been cut down, simplified and colour coded to help the average user digest and understand what their information is being used for (spoiler: it’s mostly ads).

Facebook privacy gif Facebook Facebook

The two major changes related to the Buy button Facebook has been testing and its use of location services. For the former, it mentions both the Buy button and that it’s “working on new ways to make transactions even more convenient and secure“, most likely referring to the money transfer service that was discovered hidden in Facebook Messenger.

If you use our Services for purchases or financial transactions (like when you buy something on Facebook, make a purchase in a game, or make a donation), we collect information about the purchase or transaction. This includes your payment information, such as your credit or debit card number and other card information, and other account and authentication information, as well as billing, shipping and contact details.

On top of that, the company is “working on ways to show you the most relevant information based on where you are and what your friends are up to”, giving the example of seeing local restaurant menus and nearby friends when you share your location. This ties into another new service that it recently introduced called Places, which is a mixture of Yelp and Foursquare.

While it is offering a simplified version of its privacy policy, it also updating its legal terms, and cookies policy as well, both sticking to the traditional Terms and Conditions format.

Although users will better understand where their data is going, they still won’t have much control over it. It isn’t changing how its collecting your data and how it’s used for ads, despite the introduction of ad preferences.

The site is also allowing people to comment and submit suggestions about the update over the next seven days, but don’t be surprised if the changes stay exactly the same when they come into effect in a month’s time.

Read: Taylor Swift’s Spotify earnings would have been much smaller than claimed >

Read: The Rosetta probe comet landing cost us… €3.50 each >

Your Voice
Readers Comments
4
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.