Facebook reveals 7 privacy principles with new educational videos
Facebook created an adorable blue dinosaur back in 2014 to help educate its users about the social network's privacy settings. But in 2018, the dino is not enough.
On Monday, Facebook released its privacy principles — seven sentences that the company says it should be held accountable to — as well as a series of educational videos about how to control the information Facebook collects and uses to show you ads, and how to delete your account.
The move, announced in a blog post, is not all for fun or just because Facebook suddenly realized it should be more communicative with its users on privacy. It dropped on Data Privacy Day. It's also a sign that Facebook is preparing for the European Union's upcoming privacy changes known as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The new rules go into effect on May 25.
As part of GDPR's rules, Facebook will launch a new hub for controlling user privacy, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced last week. The online center will feature privacy tools all in one place and is being designed based on feedback from policymakers and privacy experts worldwide, according to the blog post.
As part of Facebook's PR push to educate users and gain their trust, it revealed seven privacy principles for the first time (not unlike its News Feed principles for publishers):
We give you control of your privacy
We help people understand how their data is used
We design privacy into our products from the outset
We work hard to keep your information secure
You own and can delete your information
Improvement is constant
We are accountable
Starting Monday, a reminder to check your privacy and watch the education videos will appear in News Feed for some users.
The dinosaur and other fun animals are still a part of the journey. For example, the video on advertising data includes chameleons.
Facebook also said it will host more workshops on data protection for small and medium businesses, beginning in Europe.
We hosted our first workshop in Brussels last week and published a guide for frequently asked questions," Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan wrote in the blog post. "Around the world we’ll continue to host Design Jams that bring designers, developers, privacy experts and regulators together to create new ways of educating people on privacy and giving them control of their information."
Topics Activism Facebook Social Media
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
