Masthead
NEW YORK Facebook is simplifying its privacy controls amid growing unrest from users.
Protesters have been organizing campaigns to quit Facebook, and privacy groups have complained to regulators after Facebook announced new features last month, including "instant personalization" that tailors other websites to users' Facebook profiles.
"A lot of people are upset with us," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.
One complaint has been over the fact that while Facebook allows users to hide their list of interests on their personal profile pages, the user would still show up elsewhere as "liking" that band, company or hobby. Zuckerberg said that under the simplified controls, privacy preferences will be extended to those other places as well.
Zuckerberg said the company is making it easier for users to reject the instant personalization feature.
He said that as Facebook offered more granularity in its privacy choices, the settings have become too complex for many users. He said Facebook is trying to simplify the controls and make them apply both retroactively and to services that have yet to launch.
The changes will be rolled out in coming weeks. It's not clear whether the changes will quell user unease. Facebook executives hope so.
"One of the big takeaways is: Just don't mess with the privacy stuff for a long time," Zuckerberg said.
In a statement, the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington advocacy group, said that "while more work still needs to be done, these changes are the building blocks for giving people what they want and deserve."
