Hard to find, under-informed – Facebook's privacy tools are getting a major makeover 

As Facbook reports in the Newsroom, the past week has shown that there is still a lot of work ahead of us - both in enforcing our policies and in educating people about how Facebook works and what choices people have around their own data. We've heard a lot that our privacy settings and other important tools are hard to find and that we need to better inform people about them. Building on Mark Zuckerberg's announcements last week, we're taking additional steps over the next few weeks to give people even more control over their data. We have been working on a number of these updates for some time. The events of the last few days underline the relevance of these measures even more.

We are making our settings and tools to protect user data more accessible

Control options that are easier to find and use: We have redesigned and simplified the entire menu navigation of the settings for mobile devices. The settings are now no longer spread across almost 20 different subpages, but are now accessible in one place. We've also revised outdated settings to make it clearer what information can and can't be shared with apps.

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New privacy settings shortcut menu: We've taken into account feedback that privacy, security, and advertising information should be much easier to find. The “Privacy at a glance” function is a menu in which information can be set and controlled with just a few clicks. There you can also see improved explanations of how our control options work. All of this is now clearer, more understandable and easier to find. From this shortcut menu you can:

  • Make your account even more secure: You can activate additional security features for your account. This includes, for example, two-factor authentication. If someone tries to log in to your account using an unknown device, you will have to confirm that it was you.
  • Control your personal information: You can review what you've shared and delete it if you want. This includes posts you've shared or responded to, friend requests you've sent, and things you've searched for on Facebook.
  • Affect which advertisements you see: You can decide what information we use to show you advertisements. To learn how ads work and what options you have, see Ad Settings.
  • Control who sees your posts and profile information: You decide what you share on Facebook and with whom. For example, you can control who can see your posts or profile information.

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T ools to help you find, download and delete your Facebook data : On the one hand, it is important to have policies that explain what data we collect and how we use it. However, it is much more practical if people can access and manage their own information directly. Some users want to delete content they have shared in the past; others are simply curious about what information Facebook has. The “Access to your information” function will be available for this purpose in the future. It's a simple and secure way to access and manage your information. This includes posts, reactions, comments – and also your search history. Here you can delete everything from your history and profile that you no longer want on Facebook.

We're also making it easier to download the data you share with Facebook - after all, it's your data. You can download a backup copy of individual information for a specific period or all of your data. This includes photos you've uploaded, contacts you've added, posts on your timeline, and more. You can then even share the copy with another service or online service.

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That's what the future brings

It is also our responsibility to inform you about how we collect and use your data in detailed but easy-to-understand language. Over the next few weeks, we'll be rolling out updates to Facebook's Terms of Service. These also include our obligations towards people. We will also update our data policy to be more clear about how we collect and use data. These updates aren't about gaining new permissions to collect, use or share data - they're all about transparency.

We have worked with regulators, legislators and privacy experts on these tools and updates. In the next few weeks we will announce further information - including about the measures that Mark Zuckerberg announced last week.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )