Meta are (yet again) changing their worldwide policy on processing our data, this time relying on the defence of ‘legitimate interests’ to justify it. This is somewhat controversial and is likely to be under active discussion by the EU, concerning a possible legal challenge.If you wish to object to their new policy, as regards your own data, you only have until mid June to file. In case you’re wondering about deja vu, this is separate from the recent ‘Use of AI’ objection process that I posted about a week or two back.
"Subject to EU law or regulation, I object to any of my personal data being used by Facebook for any purpose other than the direct operation of the platform. I specifically object to gathering data on the devices I use, on any posts or photographs, or on my friends, groups or other accounts I follow or view, for any purpose other than essential for the correct functioning of the platform.
I feel the use of my data violates my basic right to privacy as protected by EU GDPR rules. I am specifically concerned about the potential, current or future, of my data being shared with third parties without my knowledge or without my knowing who those third parties may be."
Looking at the Meta comms, without being unduly cynical, it seems they’re trying to drown users in vast amounts of technical data policy information, an old lawyers trick, so that you can’t claim they didn’t tell you.
The short answer is- with difficulty! They require you to click on multiple pages to get to the right page, perhaps hoping you’ll lose the will to live/get bored or sidetracked.
Below is where (within FB) you create your objection. Once filed, they then email you requesting exactly the same information. It’s something of a masterclass in trying to put people off… unfortunately it has the opposite effect on us…
I just had a look at this, yes very complicated to sort out and do what you want. However as I do not put hardly any personal info on there, I won’t worry too much. I tell family also on there never to put photos of us or mention locations or being away anywhere.
Thank you for the info @George1 - I used to use FB quite a lot but don’t really bother posting any more - I would get rid of it except it keeps me in touch with what friends are up to.
Ditto InstaPig.
For regular users it’s probably worth going through the hassle of opting out, although the cynic in me says “who is going to police Meta’s compliance with this?”
Shiba they take a lot more data than you actually give them. That’s the issue.
Btw watch out Google is trying the same things with their AI, it seems usually they’re calling it Gemini. Be aware that a lot of things that originally marketed themselves as not-Google have switched to using Google in a way you might not recognise. Such as Opera browser, I suspect now Firefox (though I haven’t had time to check) and other forums or websites you may use. Aĺl needing parameters set to block data sharing or refusal.
When history is examined later - if there’s any freedom left - governments and individuals sleepwalking through this is going to be recognised as a mistake.
It probably won’t come as an enormous surprise to learn that Meta have now refused my wife’s objection to the use of her data.Their tactics consisted of sending a response with endless links to ‘helpful sections where we can improve your experience of FB’ and then expressing surprise that she “seemed to be wanting to deny access by Meta to her personal data” which ‘of course we would never sell to third parties’. The gist is that by Meta’s using the defence of processing your data for ‘legitimate reasons’ it’s extremely hard for an ordinary user to muster a defence that can rebut its use, legally. I hope the EU takes up the cudgels on our behalf, which I think they probably will.
My workaround is to use my dog’s account (he doesn’t mind, he kindly says) and to avoid posting anything, including photos.
That’s the legitimate interest exception introduced by the EU to allow providers to capture data that was said to be vital for the functioning of the service. Many providers use this as an excuse to grab more information to ‘enhance your experience’. The trouble is, you should still be allowed to object to legitimate interest data collection although doing so may stop your service working.
This is all part of the tussle between Meta and the EU where they were found to be violating the Digital Services Act, and proposed fixing it by offering either a subscription where you allowed all data collection or a paid subscription. This was rejected by the EU who wanted Meta to offer an opt in to data collection. It looks like Meta’s solution now is to hide as much data collection under the legitimate interest umbrella.
If you’ve gone through the wringer in order to try to object to Meta’s data collection, maybe you should lodge a complaint with the EU about Meta’s refusal and the difficulty of objecting. According to the data collection directive it should be as easy to object to data collection as it is to confirm it.
Especially as in theoretically offering you the option to refuse to have your data collected, but not really, one could suspect they’re only making token gestures towards legitimising collection of data they’re already doing anyway.
This is the EU press release about the fine for Meta (and Apple) with regard to consent for data collection. It appears that what @George1 has come across is their ‘solution’ to the non compliance.
What confuses me is the George’s partner got a refusal and I’m not sure that this is strictly legal, with the exception of information stored that is essential for the service to operate. Saying that ‘improving the user experience’ is essential for the service to operate is not I think OK.
Now, it may be that Meta is trying to be clever here in that if a written objection could be interpreted to include data that is essential for the operation of the service then Meta could refuse the written objection in it’s entirety. Looking back, I see that the text from Meta about data collection that George put in his first post does allow Meta (it thinks) to do this sort of thing. It says that it may refuse the objection for various nebulous reasons.
I hope the EU will reject this approach as it seems to make it almost impossible for the user to successfully object.
@George1 or anyone wanting to successfully object to data collection and processing or find out what data someone has on them and who it is shared with may find these two links very useful.
Indeed it is, but I’m not sure that ‘Access, remove, correct, or move your data’ is Dutch, or French, and the link takes you to the French part of the site, which presents correctly in French. Go figure
