Facebook have been criticized about their privacy policy and accused of breaking European data protect legislation in a new report. Academics at the University of Leuven have said that the process of adjusting privacy settings has become too complex. They said that users aren’t being given enough information about how advertisers are using their data, and have been “acting in violation of European law”.
The researchers decided that the company weren’t doing enough to let people know how their data was being gathered or what was being done with their information, and should improve their efforts about informing account holders about such details. The report comes after Facebook updated its privacy policy in Europe on January 30th.
However, the social media giant hit back, saying that their privacy policy was in fact based on guidelines given by the Irish data protection commissioner, stating: “We’re confident the updates comply with applicable laws.”
The report was written for Belgium’s privacy watchdog, with researchers saying that the Facebook were placing “too much burden” on users attempting to protect their data. The academics claimed that the complexity of the settings made it hard for users to make informed choices on keeping their content and personal details private.
Facebook recently said they were giving people more options around what will happen to their accounts after they died.
