Meta is looking to provide more transparency about how it uses Facebook user data, and what you can do to control it, through a new ‘Privacy Center’ tool, which will provide a comprehensive overview of its various aspects of. usage tracking.

The new Privacy Center, which will initially be made available to certain Facebook desktop users in the US, includes five specific elements, describing what data Meta collects in each, and how you can turn off its data tracking, if you want to. wish it.

These five elements are:

• Security – You can improve account security, configure tools like two-factor authentication, or learn more about how Meta fights data scraping.
• Share – You can refer to this guide if you have any questions about who sees what you post, or how you can clean up old posts on your profile using tools like Manage the activity.
• Collection – Learn about the different types of data Meta collects and how you can view that data with tools like Access your information.
• Use – Learn more about how and why we use data, and explore the controls we offer to manage how your information is used.
• Ads – Learn more about how your information is used to determine what ads you see and use ad controls such as Announcement preferences.

Much of this has been accessed through other means in the past, including “privacy shortcuts” in your Facebook settings, while Facebook also added a “privacy check” tool in 2020 to make these more overt controls and ensure that more people were, at least, asked to update their personal controls.

So in essence, this new privacy center doesn’t add much, functionally. So why the update?

This week, the Data Protection Observatory in France, the CNIL, announced that it had issued a Fine of 60 million euros (68 million dollars) to Facebook for violating French cookie tracking law, following investigations into how it presents data tracking choices to users.

Google and YouTube were also penalized – as the CNIL explains:

“The CNIL noted, following surveys, that the facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com sites offer a button allowing the user to immediately accept cookies. However, they do not provide an equivalent solution (button or other) allowing the Internet user to easily refuse the deposit of these cookies. Several clicks are necessary to refuse all cookies, against just one to accept them.“

The CNIL noted that this violated the freedom of consent, which constitutes an infringement of article 82 of the Data Protection Act, leading to sanctions.

This is not explicitly communicated in Meta’s announcement, but it appears that the new Trust Center controls aim to better align with these requirements, providing clearer transparency into all aspects of the data tracking processes. of Facebook, as well as improved controls to allow users to disable any element of it, if they choose.

Of course, the effectiveness of such a tracker then depends on whether people actually use it and how many people use it to find out more about this tracker. But it is not Meta’s responsibility – Meta should only ensure that these controls are accessible in order to comply with advanced requirements regarding data collection and use.

The Privacy Center will facilitate this and also become a key hub for all of these controls, as Meta strives to meet growing privacy demands in different regions.

As noted, the new Privacy Center is being made available to some people using Facebook on desktop, with Meta planning a wider rollout “in the coming months.”

Those with access will be able to find the new “Privacy Center” link in the “Settings and Privacy” item.