By Pascal Oparada
Social Media/Tech Reporter
The social media giant, Facebook, has agreed to amend its Terms and Conditions in Europe following pressure from the European Union lawmakers.
The new terms will make it plain that free access to its service is based on users’ data being used to profile them for the purpose of ad targeting, the EU said on Tuesday.
“The new terms detail what services Facebook sells to third parties that are based on the use of their user’s data, how consumers can close their accounts and under what reasons accounts can be disabled,” the EU writes.
Although the exact wordings of the news terms have not been published, Facebook has until the end of 2019 to comply.
In a press release, the Commission is saying the new terms is win for the people within the EU.
“Today Facebook finally shows commitment to more transparency and straight forward language in its terms of use. 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. By joining forces, the consumer authorities and the European Commission, stand up for the rights of EU consumers,” the release said in part.
The change to Facebook’s T&C is following pressure mounted on it by the EU in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Along with national consumer protection authorities it says it asked Facebook to clearly inform consumers how the service gets financed and what revenues are derived from the use of consumer data as part of its response to the data-for-political-ads scandal.
“Facebook will introduce new text in its Terms and Services explaining that it does not charge users for its services in return for users’ agreement to share their data and to be exposed to commercial advertisements,” it writes. “Facebook’s terms will now clearly explain that their business model relies on selling targeted advertising services to traders by using the data from the profiles of its users.”
Facebook did not respond to questions asking to see the new wordings of new terms.
It is not also clear if the amended terms will apply globally or just within the EU.
European commissioners have been squeezing social media platforms including Facebook over consumer rights issues since 2017 when Facebook, Twitter and Google were warned the Commission was losing patience with their failure to comply with various consumer protection standards.