Facebook enables update to make data settings, tools easier to find

New Delhi: Social media giant Facebook announced a revamp of its settings menu on mobile devices from top to bottom to make things easier to find.

The update follows the recent controversy brewing over an alleged data breach of nearly 50 million Facebook users.

"Last week showed how much more work we needed to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data. We've heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed.

So in addition to Mark Zuckerberg's announcements last week - cracking down on abuse of the Facebook platform, strengthening our policies, and making it easier for people to revoke apps' ability to use your data - we're taking additional steps in the coming weeks to put people more in control of their privacy," Erin Egan, VP and Chief Privacy Officer, Policy and Ashlie Beringer, VP and Deputy General Counsel said in a blog post.

To enable controls that are easier to find and use, Facebook announced a redesign of the entire settings menu on mobile devices from top to bottom to make things easier to find. Therefore, instead of having settings spread across nearly 20 different screens, users can now access it all from a single place. Furthermore, outdated settings were also cleaned up to provide clarity on what information can and can't be shared with apps.

A new Privacy Shortcuts menu has also been created for users to control data in just a few taps, with clearer explanations of how the controls work. Users may now add more layers of protection to their account, like the two-factor authentication; control personal information by reviewing what is shared; control the ads that appear and set ad preferences, and manage who sees a user's posts and profile information.

Furthermore, an 'Access Your Information' tab has been introduced to provide users a secure way to access and manage their information, such as posts, reactions, comments, and so on. They may also delete anything from their timeline or profile using this tab.

Facebook is also making it easier to download the data shared with the platform by downloading a secure copy and moving it to another service. Data can include photos, contacts, timeline posts, and more.

"It's our responsibility to tell you how we collect and use your data in a language that's detailed, but also easy to understand. In the coming weeks, we'll be proposing updates to Facebook's terms of service that include our commitments to people. We'll also update our data policy to better spell out what data we collect and how we use it. These updates are about transparency - not about gaining new rights to collect, use, or share data. We've worked with regulators, legislators and privacy experts on these tools and updates," the blog read.

For the unversed, Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm with ties to United States President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, is under fire for allegedly gaining access to private information of more than 50 million Facebook users, and influencing elections by using this stolen data.

Meanwhile, Facebook will be rolling out more such privacy protection measures in the coming weeks.