Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced this week in Brussels that the social networking site is to roll out significant changes to how your privacy settings work.
Sandberg claimed that the move would put all your important settings in one place and give users more control of their data…
[We are] rolling out a new privacy center globally that will put the core privacy settings for Facebook in one place and make it much easier for people to manage their data.
Sounds just lovely, and while it would be somewhat comforting to believe this move was simply to help protect their users and give them more control over their data, that’s not really the case. In the real world, the move comes in preparation for a massive privacy regulations overhaul across the European Union, due to go into effect this year – the much anticipated GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation.)
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The EU has always been substantially stricter on companies like Facebook when it comes to data privacy and dealing with the personal information of customers, especially when compared to areas like North America; the last decade has seen Facebook clash with EU data regulators almost continuously. The GDPR is the result of a privacy regulation overhaul that will require any company in the EU – as well as any company processing the personal information of EU residents – to take specific steps in terms of how they collect customer data, how they store that data, how they use that data, how they protect that data and what they should do in regard to a potential data breach.
Coming into effect across the EU on 25th May 2018, the aim of the GDPR is to simplify the way data privacy works across the EU, as well as provide motivation for companies to better handle the personal data of their customers, in order to, for example, reduce the chances and impact of data breaches, and also to improve the security and privacy of EU residents.
And how will the GDPR motivate companies to do this? Well another thing the GDPR does is provide significantly harsher penalties for companies or organisations that don’t (or refuse to) handle customer information appropriately. With the GDPR, symbolic fines or slapped wrists are a thing of the past – companies can now be fined up to 4% of its global turnover. Not profit… turnover.
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And what’s that for Facebook… we hear you ask? Well, should Facebook not be GDPR compliant and subsequently fined the maximum penalty, the social networking site would be coughing up a fine of around $1.1 billion (based on their 2016 figures.)
Needless to say, that’s why Facebook has employed a large team of experts to ensure the site is to become GDPR compliant, and explains Sandburg’s comments this week about a new privacy center to be introduced globally (to all Facebook users, not just inside the EU.)
(Quick note: Yes British companies need to be GDPR compliant, as they will not leave the EU before it comes into effect this May.)
What the new privacy center and settings will look like is not yet known, nor is it known whether this will really give users a better way to manage their data. Of course we’ll provide you all with easy-to-follow guides when it does happen so you’ll always know exactly where your important privacy settings are.
Any thoughts, just let us know on our Facebook page.