April 18 (UPI) — Facebook will introduce new privacy changes for European users this week — one of which asks users to furnish personal data for site features and targeted advertising.
The social media company said Tuesday the new privacy policies will be introduced for “everyone.”
“Everyone — no matter where they live — will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy,” Facebook said. “We’ll begin by rolling these choices out in Europe this week.”
Facebook said it will ask users to choose whether or not they want data from partners to display ads. It will also ask whether users want to continue sharing information about political and religious views and relationship status.
European and Canadian users will also be given the choice of turning on facial recognition, a feature Facebook said helps protect user privacy and improve multimedia experiences.
Users will be asked to agree to the new privacy policy, which will not include “asking for new rights to collect, use or share your data on Facebook,” the company said.
The moves are part of Facebook’s requirement to comply with tougher European data laws that will take effect May 25.
“People in the [European Union] will start seeing these requests this week to ensure they have made their choices,” Facebook said. “As part of our phased approach, people in the rest of the world will be asked to make their choices on a slightly later schedule.”
The new privacy changes follow Facebook’s selling of data for 87 million users to Cambridge Analytica, a British data firm.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to U.S. lawmakers this month and said the company’s response wasn’t enough.
Facebook has since taken steps to ensure it’s easier for users to control what they share, and to delete collected data.
