Since most people NEVER seem to want to read those Terms of Service (TOS), privacy policies, or anything else legal posted by companies, today’s post is a quick FYI.
If you saw your Facebook notifications in the past 24 hours, you should have seen that the FB Terms of Service are going to be updated effective October 1, 2020. Today’s post will be a short non-lawyer review of what this change means. News: Facebook Updates Its Terms Of Service
So the majority of people are not lawyers and don’t speak lawyer, so when it comes to everything from TOS, to privacy policies, to anything else that has lawyer language, it’s just not something most people like to bother with. However, the formal change coming to FB effective Oct 1, 2020, does matter.
FB Terms of Service Change
So if you were paying attention to your newsfeed on FB over the past 24 hours, you would have seen the message that there is an update, effective Oct 1, 2020, to section 3.2 of the FB TOS.
The message change reads “We also can remove or restrict access to your content, services, or information if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impact to Facebook”.
So in essence, we own this place and if your photo, post, group, etc is making us (FB) look bad, they reserve the right to block the individual content.
So What Does FB TOS Section 3.2 Say
If you bother to click into the FB TOS and look at section 3.2, you will see the following
So of the key points to bring out as part of section 3.2 concerning what is shared on FB. You may not use FB to post anything…
- That is unlawful, misleading, discriminatory or fraudulent.
Hmmm, does this mean we can go back to the real purpose of the FB newsfeed which is selfies, and people showing what they are having for dinner? Come on you know you would rather see that, then some of the stuff we have to see now.
Also, FB TOS section 3.2 says…
- You may not access or collect data from our Products using automated means (without our prior permission) or attempt to access data you do not have permission to access.
To which I say, wait isn’t that what FB does every time you go to a site and log in with FB or as you browse the web while logged into FB on the same browser? Yes, how do you think you see all of those FB “sponsored” posts for things that you just happened to be looking at on other sites at the same time.
Now if you happen to break the rules…
- We (FB) can remove or restrict access to content that is in violation of these provisions.
and the new section of the TOS
- We also can remove or restrict access to your content, services, or information if we determine that doing so is reasonably necessary to avoid or mitigate adverse legal or regulatory impacts to Facebook.
Which as a non-lawyer says, if your content makes us look bad on other social media, the news, or we think it will cause a government to come after FB, then they have the right to remove it.
With that being said
Final Thought
With over 2.7 Billion monthly users worldwide, FB is the defacto way of sharing information globally. Unfortunately, a lot of the information shared “As fact” is in fact someone’s opinion in many cases, and actually “fake news” in other cases. As a private company, FB has the right to manage their system as they seem fit. However, instead of just saying if it makes us (FB) look bad we are going to remove it, hopefully, they will also continue to improve and expand the messaging that is seen on some of those questionable posts that point users to information that items posted may not be what they seem.
Source
- Facebook – Oct 1, 2020 FB Terms of Service update
News: Facebook Updates Its Terms Of Service
