Facebook change again privacy settings on his app, spreading them within six different categories. The company says it did this to make browsing settings more natural but many critics think these changes make accessing data protection more complex. However, the company has made the tool more prominent “Privacy Checkup“.
Facebook unbundles the privacy settings on the app
In 2018 Facebook it had redesigned the privacy settings, making it “easier to find”. And on that occasion he explained that: “Instead of having settings scattered over almost 20 different screens, now they are all reachable from one place“.
Today, however, three years later, it has completely changed the approach. “The settings are now grouped into six broad categories, each with different related settings. Accounts, Preferences, Audience and Visibility, Permissions, Your Information and Community Standards and Legal Policies […]. We have disaggregated the Privacy Settings category and moved the settings contained in that session to other categories ”.
As the category names may have suggested, you can find settings to protect your data in all categories. Each has its own button for activation and it may take a while to navigate through all submenus. Facebook has announced that it has “renamed the settings to better adhere to mental models of people”. But it seems difficult to understand which mental model is more comfortable and effective than bringing all the data settings into one section.
Although this decision is causing debate among experts, it should be noted that Facebook has made the “Privacy Checkup” tool more prominent on its page. But we still recommend take some time to check the individual menus to set up your account when you have downloaded the update. Even if your preferences remain the same as you switch to the new menu, extra control never hurts. Especially when it comes to privacy.