Facebook bows to EU pressure, will show how it profits off user data

Facebook will change its terms of service to clarify how consumer data is being used for targeted advertisements, following pressure from European regulators.

The move was announced Tuesday by Vera Jourová, Europe’s consumer protection commissioner.

{mosads}“Today Facebook finally shows commitment to more transparency and straight forward language in its terms of use,” Jourová said in a statement. “A company that wants to restore consumers trust after the Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal should not hide behind complicated, legalistic jargon on how it is making billions on people’s data.”

“Now, users will clearly understand that their data is used by the social network to sell targeted ads,” she added.

According to the announcement, Facebook has agreed to more clearly explain in its terms of service that information users provide to the site will be used to create targeted ads.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work this year to better explain how Facebook works, what data we collect and how we use it,” Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Facebook’s managing director of EU affairs, said in a statement.

“Several of the updates are the result of our work with the European Consumer Protection Network (CPC), but we’ll be making the changes globally,” Kristensen continued, adding that the company would offer more details on the updates when they’re rolled out “in the coming months.”

Facebook also agreed to change the terms that make the social network liable if it has been negligent in cases of user data being abused. The agreement additionally restricts the company’s ability to unilaterally alter the terms of service to instances where “changes are reasonable also taking into account the interest of the consumer.”

Under the agreement, Facebook has until the end of June to implement the changes.

Updated 2:10 p.m.