Facebook has informed users about an update in its terms of service under which it could “remove or restrict access” to any content that could increase legal or regulatory risks for the company worldwide.
Various users in markets including India, Australia, and the US on Tuesday received a notification on their Facebook app about the update that says, “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.” It will be under section 3.2 of Facebook’s terms of service starting October 1.
A summary of the information Facebook has added to its terms:
- How they make money: We include more details on how we make money, including a new introduction explaining that we don’t charge you money to use our products because businesses and organizations pay us to show you ads.
- Content removals: We provide more information about what happens when we remove content that violates our terms or policies.
- Your intellectual property rights: We clarify that when you share your own content — like photos and videos — you continue to own the intellectual property rights in that content. You grant us permission to do things like display that content, and that permission ends when the content is deleted from Facebook. This is how many online services work and has always been the case on Facebook.
- What happens when you delete: We’re providing more detail about what happens when you delete content you’ve shared. For example, when you delete something you’ve posted, it’s no longer visible but it can take up to 90 days to be removed from our systems.
The latest move by the social media giant that will be in place across the globe starting October 1 is in contrast with free speech support Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg advocated in his recent public statements. Also, the update emerges amid the ongoing pressure social media companies including Facebook and Twitter are facing by various governments to police content on their platforms.
