Facebook on Friday updated its privacy policy to include additional provisions that give the social network even more power over the user data it can collect for commercial purposes, The Register reports.
FROM EARLIER: How Facebook and Twitter make you pay the ‘cost of caring’
“We receive information about you from companies that are owned or operated by Facebook, in accordance with their terms and policies,” the privacy policy states.
In other words, Facebook can now combine data from the various services it owns, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, to better target users with advertisements, which is how the huge social network is making money.
As the publication notes, Facebook’s ambiguous choice of words leave the company plenty of “wiggle room” when it comes handling the collection of private data.
“We receive information about you and your activities on and off Facebook from third-party partners, such as information from a partner when we jointly offer services or from an advertiser about your experiences or interactions with them,” the new privacy policy reads.
European privacy watchdogs are already taking action against Facebook’s privacy policy update, whose change many users may have not even noticed.
“I think it’s problematic that Facebook wants to exchange user data between all of its various units, including WhatsApp and Instagram,” Hamburg privacy regulator Johannes Caspar told Bloomberg. “I will coordinate with my various European colleagues to see what action may be needed.”
The Dutch privacy regulator also opened a probe into Facebook’s privacy policy changes.
Facebook says that, as a company headquartered in Ireland, it abides to local privacy requirements.
Facebook new privacy policy update is available at this link.
