
Facebook's CEO is downplaying concerns that recent changes made to the terms of service for the social networking website could erode user privacy.Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, is shown in this July 2008 file photo. He said Monday that recent changes to Facebook's terms of service are meant to reflect how account holders use the social networking site. (Eric Risberg/Associated Press)
In a change to its terms of service announced on Feb. 4, Facebook deleted a paragraph that allowed its 175 million users to remove content from the site at any time.
CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a Monday blog post the changes were made to reflect how account holders use the site.
When a user shares a message on Facebook with a friend, a copy of the content remains in the friend's inbox, he said. This content remains, regardless of whether the sender has deactivated his or her account or not.
"We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear," he said.
"In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want," he wrote. "The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work."
Facebook has in its terms of service a provision that allows it to change or delete any of the terms without notice.
In a change to its terms of service announced on Feb. 4, Facebook deleted a paragraph that allowed its 175 million users to remove content from the site at any time.
CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a Monday blog post the changes were made to reflect how account holders use the site.
When a user shares a message on Facebook with a friend, a copy of the content remains in the friend's inbox, he said. This content remains, regardless of whether the sender has deactivated his or her account or not.
"We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear," he said.
"In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want," he wrote. "The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work."
Facebook has in its terms of service a provision that allows it to change or delete any of the terms without notice.
Report from CBC