Facebook’s privacy policy breaches European law, report finds

A report commissioned by the Belgian privacy commission has found that Facebook is acting in violation of European law, despite updating its privacy policy. Conducted by the Centre of Interdisciplinary Law and ICT at the University of Leuven in Belgium, the report claimed that Facebook’s privacy policy update in January had only expanded older policy and practices, and found that it still violates European consumer protection law.

“Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities contains a number of provisions which do not comply with the Unfair Contract Terms Directive. These violations were already present in 2013, and they are set to persist in 2015,” wrote the authors. "Facebook places too much burden on its users. Users are expected to navigate Facebook’s complex web of settings in search of possible opt-outs,” wrote the authors. “Facebook’s default settings related to behavioural profiling or Social Ads, for example, are particularly problematic.” The report also points out that there is no way to stop Facebook from collecting location information on users via its smartphone app other than to stop location access on the smartphone at the level of the mobile operating system.