Facebook eases access to privacy tools after criticism

After coming under fire for collecting logs of calls and text messages through Facebook Messenger, the social network platform has made its privacy tools easier to find in order to enhance users’ control of their data, it said Thursday.

Facebook has redesigned the entire settings menu on mobile devices from top to bottom to make things easier to find, it said.

Instead of having settings spread across nearly 20 different screens, they are now gathered in a single place.

A new Privacy Shortcuts menu will give clearer explanations of how the platform’s controls work, the firm said. 

Users can also add layers of protection to their accounts by turning on two-factor authentication.

They will also be able to review all the posts they have shared or reacted to, friend requests and what they have searched for on Facebook, and delete them if they want to.

With the Ad Preferences, users will be able to manage the information Facebook uses to show ads.

“It’s also our responsibility to tell you how we collect and use your data in language that’s detailed, but also easy to understand,” said Erin Egan, vice president and chief privacy officer at Facebook in a press release. “In the coming weeks, we’ll be proposing updates to Facebook’s terms of service that include our commitments to people. We’ll also update our data policy to better spell out what data we collect and how we use it.”

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)