Facebook redesigned its privacy tools and makes them easier to find

Facebook has received a barrage of criticism ever since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. Making matters worse, it was revealed that Facebook was collecting call logs and SMS data of Android users which the company later clarified was being done to offer them better friend recommendations. Now, in a bid to help people access their various privacy settings easily, Facebook has cleaned up its privacy options and made them available on a single page.

Instead of having various privacy-related settings spread across 20 different screens, Facebook is making them accessible from a single place. This is being rolled out with a new Settings menu which puts the important information right up front. This is especially true for mobile phones where the redesigned Settings menu puts important options related to security, sharing of your personal information, and more at the very front.

“We’ve redesigned our entire settings menu on mobile devices from top to bottom to make things easier to find“, said the firm on Wednesday. Indeed, what used to be spread across nearly 20 different screens is now accessible from a single place.

Below is how Facebook highlights its new Settings menu:

  • Make your account more secure: You can add more layers of protection to your account, like two-factor authentication. If you turn this on and someone tries to log into your account from a device we don’t recognize, you’ll be asked to confirm whether it was you.
  • Control your personal information: You can review what you’ve shared and delete it if you want to. This includes posts you’ve shared or reacted to, friend requests you’ve sent, and things you’ve searched for on Facebook.
  • Control the ads you see: You can manage the information we use to show you ads. Ad preferences explains how ads work and the options you have.
  • Manage who sees your posts and profile information: You own what you share on Facebook, and you can manage things like who sees your posts and the information you choose to include on your profile.

Additionally, Facebook is also introducing a new Access Your Information tool that lets people safely and securely delete any of their past information including their posts, reactions, comments, and more. The social networking giant is also making it easier to download the data that you have shared with it.

As you know, the social network is facing a crisis following revelations that data-mining political consultancy Cambridge Analytica took advantage of the platform’s lax app permissions to gather data on undecided US voters via an inconspicuous quizz app.

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