Facebook Bends to EU Pressure on Misleading Fine Print

    By Sam Schechner 
 

European Union regulators have pressured Facebook into changing what the bloc had called misleading terms of service, the latest example of a broader effort by governments globally to exercise more control over tech firms.

The European Commission said Facebook has agreed to address a list of outstanding concerns that it and a group of national consumer-protection authorities had articulated over the company's terms of service. The changes will be made by June, the Commission said.

Among the commitments, the Commission disclosed, Facebook will spell out for users how it makes money by using personal information about them to sell targeted advertising, and clarify that it can be held liable for misuse of user data when it "has not acted with due professional diligence."

"Today Facebook finally shows commitment to more transparency and straightforward language in its terms of use," said Vera Jourova, the EU's commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality.

Facebook said it made "several of the updates" as a result of work with EU consumer-protection regulators, but would make those changes globally.

"We've been doing a lot of work this year to better explain how Facebook works, what data we collect and how we use it. As part of these ongoing efforts, we'll be updating our Terms of Service to be more clear about how Facebook makes money," said Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Facebook's managing director of EU affairs.

Write to Sam Schechner at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 09, 2019 06:16 ET (10:16 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.