Reuters
Facebook Inc., facing a firestorm over how it handles personal information, says it will make it simpler for users to examine and change some of the data Facebook tracks about them.
The tweaks announced Wednesday, which will roll out in the coming weeks, include a new, central hub in the Facebook FB, -4.90% app settings that contains existing tools for users to review and, if desired, delete traces of their Facebook activity such as past posts and search terms. Some other data, such as which ads users clicked on, still won’t be erasable. Facebook says any information users delete is wiped from its servers.
Facebook will also redesign its settings menu for mobile devices, now spread out across almost 20 different screens, and consolidate its privacy and security options in a single place.
Read: Three users sue Facebook in class action over call and text history collection
The moves are part of broader changes Facebook is planning to bolster privacy, said Rob Sherman, Facebook’s deputy privacy officer. They come amid intensifying scrutiny from users, regulators and lawmakers over Facebook’s admission on March 16 that user data was improperly obtained by Cambridge Analytica, a data-analytics firm that worked for the 2016 Trump campaign.
The backlash has shaken Facebook and hammered its stock, cleaving more than $95 billion off its market value in just over a week. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized last week for a “major breach of trust” in the Cambridge Analytica episode and is expected to testify before U.S. lawmakers on data-use practices next month.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
Popular on WSJ.com:
Arrival of North Korean Train in Beijing Triggers Speculation
Oracle Wins Court Ruling Against Google in Multibillion-Dollar Copyright Case