Facebook Bends to European Union Pressure on ‘Misleading’ Fine Print

Facebook has bowed to demands from European Union regulators to change what the bloc had called its misleading terms of service, the latest example of a broader effort by governments globally to exercise more control over tech firms.  The European Commission said that Facebook has agreed to address a list of outstanding concerns that it and a group of national consumer-protection authorities had articulated about the company’s terms of service. The changes will be made by June, the commission said. Among the commitments the commission disclosed, Facebook will spell out for users how it makes money by using personal information about them to sell targeted advertising, and clarify that it can be held liable for misuse of user data when it “has not acted with due professional diligence.” “Today Facebook finally shows commitment to more transparency and straightforward language in its terms of use,” said Vera Jourová, the EU’s commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality. Facebook said that it made the “several of the updates” as a result of work with EU consumer-protection regulators, but would make those changes globally.