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Facebook agreed to change its terms and conditions under pressure from European legislators.
The new terms will clearly state that free access to its service is contingent upon the use of user data to establish their profile in order to target ads, the European Commission said. says today.
"The new terms detail the services that Facebook sells to third parties based on the use of their users' data, how consumers can close their accounts and why accounts can be disabled," he writes.
Although the exact wording of the new terms has not yet been published and the company has until the end of June 2019 to comply, it remains to be seen how "clearly" is clear.
However, in a press release, Vera Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said the concession described the deal as a victory for consumers and announced the changes ahead in the future. Facebook's terms and conditions. Facebook:
Today, Facebook is finally demonstrating its commitment to greater transparency and simple language in its conditions of use. A company that wants to restore consumer confidence after the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal should not hide behind complicated legal jargon about how it generates billions of data with data. Users will now clearly understand that their data is used by the social network to sell targeted ads. By joining forces, the consumer authorities and the European Commission are defending the rights of EU consumers.
The change in Facebook's terms of use follows pressure following the scandal of misuse of data by Cambridge Analytica, according to the Commission.
Along with national consumer protection authorities, he asked Facebook to clearly inform consumers of how the service is financed and the revenue generated from the use of consumer data as part of its response to the scandal. "Data for political announcements".
"Facebook will introduce a new text in its terms of use explaining that it does not charge users for its services in return for their agreement to share their data and to be exposed to commercial advertisements", writes he. "Facebook's terms will now make it clear that their business model is based on selling targeted advertising services to merchants using the user profile data."
We asked Facebook some questions, including asking for the wording of the new terms, but at the time of writing this document, the company had refused to give an answer.
It is also unclear whether the amended terms and conditions will apply universally or only to Facebook users in Europe.
Update: A spokesman for Facebook confirmed that the new terms and conditions would be applied globally. "We've done a lot of work this year to better explain how Facebook works, what data we collect, and how we use it. As part of these ongoing efforts, we will update our Terms of Service to better clarify how Facebook earns money. Many of the updates are the result of our work with the European Consumer Protection Network (CPC), but we will make the changes globally. We appreciate the cooperation of the CCP and will provide more details on the updates as they unfold in the coming months, "said Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Director General of European Affairs, in a statement.
European Commissioners reduce social media platforms, including Facebook, for consumer rights issues since 2017 – when Facebook, Twitter and Google have been warned that the Commission is losing patience with the lack of respect for different standards of protection consumers.
In addition to terms that are unclear in their terms of use, the Commission is particularly concerned by terms that deprive consumers of their right to sue in their own country or compel consumers to waive mandatory rights ( such as their right to withdraw purchase).
Facebook has now accepted several other changes in sales conditions under pressure from the Commission, in addition to stating that "if it is free, you are the product".
Namely, the Commission states that Facebook has agreed to: 1) change its policy on limitation of liability – stating that Facebook's new terms of use "acknowledge its liability for negligence, for example in the event that data has been manipulated by third parties"; 2) modify its power to unilaterally change the terms and conditions "limiting it to cases where the changes are reasonable, also taking into account the interests of the consumer"; 3) change the rules for temporary retention of content which has been deleted by consumers – the content can only be kept in "specific cases" (for example, to comply with an authority's request for execution), and only for a maximum period of time 90 days when it is kept for "technical reasons"; and 4) modify the wording clarifying the right of recourse of the users when their content has been deleted.
The Commission said it expects Facebook to bring all changes by the end of June at the latest, warning that implementation will be closely monitored.
"If Facebook does not respect its commitments, the national consumer authorities could decide to resort to implementing measures, including sanctions," he adds.
This report has been updated with Facebook comments
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