GDPR Game Time: Social Media Platform Changes You Should Know About
Since news of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica incident broke in March, there’s been what seems like a never-ending stream of revelations about what data these companies are collecting on us and how they’re using it. Learn more in our post.
Since news of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica incident broke in March, there’s been what seems like a never-ending stream of revelations about what data these companies are collecting on us and how they’re using it. Just last week, Oracle claimed that Google was amassing the location data of Android users – and that users were being charged for the gigabytes used in the process. Simultaneously, the company is under investigation in Australia. Missouri Attorney Josh Hawley is investigating the company at the state level, and at the national level, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has called for antitrust investigation.
This might seem like a lot – but considering the amount of data these companies have on us, it’s far from excessive. Not only do they have data about how users interact with their products (a fair enough practice), they also have data about other websites users visit. If you see a “share” or “like” button on a third-party page, that means that the company likely knows you’ve visited this page – and whether or not you have an account.
It gets worse. These companies can find out what hardware and software you have on your device and what the battery level is. It monitors how you move your mouse, your location and what’s seen through the camera included in its apps. If someone in your network has uploaded their contacts to one of these platforms, then the company probably has your contact information.
Are you scared yet? If you are, you’re in good company: The European Union is on your side. The region has just unrolled General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), its comprehensive regulation to give citizens of the European Union more say in how their data is used by organizations and businesses. The fines for non-compliance are enormous – up to 4 percent of global annual turnover or 20 million.
It isn’t a perfect framework, but it’s a major step towards more robust protections of consumer privacy. And here’s the good news: Because all these major platforms have users in the EU, American users will also experience some of the changes in privacy policy and terms of service as well. Although it’s impossible to give an overview of all the changes – and their loopholes – here’s some of the topline shifts that you should keep an eye out for:
Currently, Facebook doesn’t use your sexual orientation, political preferences or religion to send you ads – but it does use any pages or events you may have liked or shared. You can opt out of letting it use these to select ad content as well. You can also opt out of letting the platform use your other browsing data for ad targeting, although this information will still affect what turns up in your news feed. The site has also upped its privacy protections for teens aged 13 to 15 – sort of. If these young users want to publish the personal information mentioned above or allow ad targeting that uses data given by Facebook’s partners, they’ll have to explicitly consent to doing so.
Among LinkedIn’s changes are shifts that help users understand how LinkedIn and its advertising partners utilize their personal data, such as what suggestions users receive, what content comes up on their feeds and how conclusions about the user are drawn. It also gives users a greater level of controlover how advertisers use data.
Similar to LinkedIn, Google is giving users a better sense of what data is collected and what they do with it, as well as allowing users to choose what online activity Google saves, including location data, activity on the web and on Google’s apps. It’s also adjusting its services so that downloading information is more straightforward and even has gone so far as to help users download their information on a frequent basis so as to keep up with what data Google is amassing on them.
Twitter is also making changes in this vein, permitting users more say in what the company does with their data. Location-based content, ads tailored to your personal interests, content based on data from all your devices, browsing data – you can decide whether or not you want Twitter to use any of it.
These are exciting and important changes – ones that represent a new level of security and privacy on the internet. Just bear in mind that even if you change your privacy preferences, these platforms still have all the information you’ve previously given them unless you delete it – and even then, it might never thoroughly be purged from their archives. As we start to see these changes implemented, let’s hope that U.S. legislators take note and start to work towards policies that give American citizens the privacy they deserve.
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