Another attempt made by Facebook in simplifying privacy policy for its 1.35 billion users

Facebook lets its users control whether other people can see the information they post, but when it comes to controlling what Facebook itself gets to see, privacy-conscious users are out of luck. “With most online services, there’s an understanding that when you use those services to share information, you’re also sharing information with the company providing the service,” said Matt Scutari, manager of privacy and public policy at Facebook. “For users who are truly concerned with sharing their information with a particular platform, honestly, you might not want to share information with that platform,” he said, speaking during a conference on digital privacy in Palo Alto, California. “I don’t think there are many services out there who could claim they’re not using your information that you’re sharing with them for any purpose. Facebook has updated its privacy policies, but the real change came in the form of the site using basic language so people can better understand how everything works.

Facebook has once again attempted to simplify and update its privacy policy in the midst of widespread criticism that it’s too long and complicated for its users. The company introduced a page called Privacy Basics, which tells users how to manage settings including photo tags and what others can see about you which is not just for friends, but advertisers as well. Facebook has been working for the last several years making changes to the privacy policy, as well as settings, in an effort to make information more easily accessible and more easily regulated from user-to-user.

Instead of forcing users to weed through buried tools to find what they’re really looking for, the world’s largest online social network uses the information people share on its site, along with the apps they use and the outside websites they visit, to show them advertisements deemed relevant to them. The goal has been to allow the individual user to have the opportunity to ultimately decide what information is being shared of theirs, to the company, and the subsequent companies that do business with Facebook from an advertising perspective. Until then users are welcome to send their feedback, propose changes or ask questions. “Privacy Basics offers interactive guides to answer the most commonly asked questions about how you can control your information on Facebook,” Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer wrote.