Facebook’s Decision to Relax Privacy Rules for Teenagers Under Fire

Led by the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), a coalition of public health,
media, youth, and consumer advocacy groups has written a letter to the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking the agency to review Facebook’s
recent decision to relax its privacy protections for teenage users. According to
an October 20, 2013, press release, the letter raises concerns about the social
networking site’s new terms of service agreement, which, among other things,
apparently gives Facebook “permission to use, for commercial purposes, the
name, profile picture, actions, and other information concerning its teen
users.” It also objects to a new condition of service that asks 13-to-17-year-olds
to “represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also
agreed to the terms of this section (and the use of your name, profile picture,
content, and information) on your behalf.”

In particular, the coalition argues that these proposed changes “would expose
teens to the same problematic data collection and sophisticated ad-targeted
practices that adults currently face.” As CDD Executive Director Jeff Chester
further explained to the media, “It’s all about monetization and being where
the public dialogue is. To the extent that Facebook encourages people to put
everything out there, it’s incredibly attractive to Facebook’s advertisers.”

“The FTC, which has acknowledged that teens require special privacy safeguards, must act now to limit the ways in which Facebook collects data and engages in targeted marketing directed at adolescents,” concludes the letter. “It should prevent Facebook from imposing unfair terms on teens and their parents that place them in a position of having to say they secured informed, affirmative consent from a parent or guardian.” See The New York Times, October 16, 2013.

Issue 500