Facebook to share more about privacy updates and changes

Facebook announced on Thursday it will make some much-needed changes to how it shares information on privacy updates. In a blog post, Facebook’s chief privacy officer Michel Protti said the company will begin “communicating more transparently about our work.” Facebook will also require its employees to participate in annual privacy training and plans to use an independent, third-party assessor to review its privacy practices and report on them to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In recent months, Facebook has given its users an inside look at how the it builds privacy into its products. While Facebook will continue to share this information in regular updates, it has created a Privacy Matters page dedicated to the latest privacy updates and information to keep its users informed.

Protti stated updates posted to Privacy Matters will “explain improvements we make to further protect people’s privacy, continue to share how we design privacy into our products, highlight advances we make to the technology that keeps people’s information safe, and provide more transparency into things we find and fix.”

Thursday’s announcement also included the unveiling of a newly formed Privacy Committee within Facebook’s Board of Directors and a third-party assessor who will review Facebook’s privacy practices and report on them to the Privacy Committee and the FTC.

When it comes to the onboarding and training of Facebook employees, Protti says, employees will complete an annual privacy training course that reinforces Facebook’s commitments to protect the privacy and treat its users’ data responsibly.

“Our work on privacy is never finished,” says Protti.

“We’re focused on this every day, and we’ll share updates about both our successes and the lessons we’ve learned in improving our products and practices,” he concluded in the post.