Facebook has started to seek explicit consent from users for targeted advertising, storage of sensitive information, and – for the first time in the EU – application of facial recognition technology as the European general data protection regulation (GDPR) is due to come into force in just over a month.
The company is only required to seek the new permissions in the European Union, but it plans to roll them out to all Facebook users, no matter where they live. The move follows Mark Zuckerberg’s stated goal to apply the spirit of GDPR worldwide.
When Facebook users log in during the coming weeks, they will be asked to agree to the company’s updated terms of service, and to make specific choices in a number of areas defined by the new law.
In a blogpost, Facebook executives Erin Egan and Ashlie Beringer said users would be asked to review information about targeted advertising, and to choose whether or not they want the social network to use data from partners to show them ads; to explicitly confirm whether they’re happy to share “political, religious, and relationship information”, which is defined as specially protected data under EU law; and to agree to the use of facial recognition technology, which Facebook says will be used to detect which pictures users are in and help protect them against strangers using their photos.
Some users, however,say Facebook is attempting to railroad them in to giving consent under the new laws, rather than making it easy to make a meaningful choice.
If users want to decline the new permissions, they are not able to simply click “no”. Instead, all of the options are presented with a blue button reading “accept and continue” and a white button labelled “manage data settings”. The “manage data settings” button takes them to a second page where Facebook gives more information pushing them into accepting the change, and then a third page where they are able to opt out.
“Overall, it seems like Facebook is complying with the letter of GDPR law, but with questionable spirit,” wrote TechCrunch’s Josh Constine. “The subtly pushy designs seem intended to steer people away from changing their defaults in ways that could hamper Facebook’s mission and business.”
Facial recognition is a particular watershed for Facebook. The company withdrew an earlier facial recognition feature called tag suggestions from the EU and Canada in 2012 over concerns that it was not compatible with data protection laws in those jurisdictions. Now, however, the company believes it can roll out the features worldwide if it secures active consent from users before applying facial recognition technology to their photos.
A California judge allowed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook on Monday over tag suggestions. Users in Illinois are suing the company, arguing that the feature violated state law.