Facebook has rolled out new, easier privacy controls on its smartphone app following the revelations surrounding Cambridge Analytica.
The new menu greatly simplifies how much control a user has over what information Facebook stores on them and then in turn how to delete it.
In the past these menus were spread across a dizzying 20 screens but Facebook has reduced that to just one main screen with access to everything.
The new Privacy Shortcuts menu will let you add two-factor authentication to make your account more secure, review the posts you’ve shared in the past and permanently delete them and even control your ad preferences.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed.” explain Erin Egan, VP and Chief Privacy Officer, Policy and Ashlie Beringer, VP and Deputy General Counsel.
According to Facebook the changes to your app should be rolling out now so if you haven’t seen the changes already you will see them appear in the coming days.
On the desktop version, Facebook has already made some small but crucial changes to its settings menu including the removal of the Apps others use section which outlined the personal information that your friends could be sharing about you through the apps they used.
It’s believed that it was this setting which allowed the initial collection of over 50m people’s data. In response Facebook has updated the settings screen with a statement:
“These outdated settings have been removed because they applied to an older version of our platform that no longer exists.”
Facebook’s new Privacy Shortcuts are just one of the steps that CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined in a statement following the revelation that millions of people’s Facebook data had been shared inappropriately outside of the company’s ecosystem.
In addition to changes to the privacy settings for users Zuckerberg pledged to:
To investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of information before a 2014 change that restricted access to data and ban any app that doesn’t agree to a “thorough audit”. “We find developers that misused personally identifiable information, we will ban them and tell everyone affected by those apps,” Zuckerberg said.
To restrict developers’ data access, such as removing access to data of people who’ve not used an app for three months. “We will reduce the data you give an app when you sign in ― to only your name, profile photo, and email address,” Zuckerberg said.