Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has announced new changes coming to its privacy policy. The changes, Meta says, are designed to more clearly convey to users how the company uses collected information.

Meta emphasizes that the updated Privacy Policy doesn't introduce new ways for the company to collect, use, or share user data. Rather it simplifies the wording and provides more detailed and clearer explanations of the policy and various data practices. The new Privacy Policy, formerly known as Data Policy, will go into effect on July 26. It covers Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and other Meta products, but leaves out WhatsApp, Workplace, Free Basics, and Messenger Kids. The company says it has started sending out notifications to users about the new policy. Users can click on the notification to review changes and get more details, though they don't necessarily need to act on these notifications and choose to ignore them.

"We've rewritten and re-designed our Privacy Policy to make it easier to understand and clearer about how we use your information. We've also included more details about the types of third-parties with whom we share and receive information and explained how and why people's information is shared across our products, among other changes." wrote Micheal Protti, Meta's Cheif Privacy Officer.

 A summary of Meta's new privacy policy for Facebook and Instagram

Meta is also updating its Terms of Services "to better explain what is expected from us and those who use our platforms." In select countries, including India, users will have the option to not accept the updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

"For most countries, our Privacy Policy is informational - and so we're sharing a prominent notice to highlight the change to users, but they are not invited to, for example, click to agree to the update to our Privacy Policy. In India, users are given the opportunity to accept the updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service or not, without any impact on their access to our products," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Moneycontrol.

Meta is also rolling out a new privacy setting that will allow users to control who sees their posts on Facebook by default. Finally, the company says its Privacy Center dashboard is now available to everyone on Facebook, and it connects directly to the updated Privacy Policy.


Source: Meta, Moneycontrol