Facebook announces changes to handle private data

Facebook on April 18 announced that it would begin rolling out changes in handling private data this week, to comply with the forthcoming EU rules. European residents shall be seeing the measures first.

The social networking site will start implementing "new privacy experiences" to comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes to effect on May 25.

"Everyone, no matter where they live, will be asked to review important information about how Facebook uses data and make choices about their privacy on Facebook" said a statement from Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan and Deputy General Counsel Ashlie Beringer.

Under the new policy, Facebook users will be asked to review and make choices about ads they receive, including whether they want Facebook to use data from third parties. Users will also be asked to review and choose what to share about the political, religious, and relationship information on their profiles.

Additionally, users will be allowed to opt in or out of use of facial recognition technology.

The news comes a week after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg faced 10-hours of questioning in two congressional panels following the Cambridge Analytica data leak.

To comply with the GDPR, Facebook will also limit what it shows to users between the ages of 13 and 15 unless they get permission from a parent