Meta Says It Won’t Collect User Data ‘In New Ways’

Meta, the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg and formerly known as Facebook, has amended its Terms of Service and, as a result, its Privacy Policy. Now the corporation boldly declares that it will not acquire user data “in new ways” – but what exactly does that imply?

Meta has posted an essay explaining why it rewrote its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Users may now more easily “understand and reflect” on Meta’s products and services, according to the business. Meta’s Privacy Center does, in fact, now have a more user-friendly interface.

“Facebook currently channels user data at industrial scale into a huge targeted advertising ecosystem,” according to John Davisson of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. According to Davisson, expecting Facebook users to read thousands of pages detailing how the firm handles their data is “unrealistic,” but Meta will undoubtedly try to make it appear that the company is now more serious about privacy.

In other words, nothing has changed, which isn’t good when it comes to Facebook.

The majority of Facebook’s revenue comes from the sale of user data for advertising purposes. When Apple unveiled App Tracking Transparency, which requires apps to ask for users’ permission before tracking them, Facebook reacted angrily.

An internal memo from Facebook’s Ad team earlier this year revealed that even the company’s engineers have no idea how to manage user data in a way that is genuinely secure. Employees at Facebook have even referred to the platform’s database as “open borders.”

Facebook’s location-based functions, such as “Nearby Friends” and “Whereabouts History,” which both collected the user’s location in the background, were recently withdrawn. Facebook’s app, on the other hand, continues to collect location data “for other experiences.”