Facebook Plans To ‘Drastically Simplify’ Privacy

In the face of a user backlash, Facebook has announced plans to update its privacy settings

Facebook is introducing new privacy settings on Wednesday in response to ongoing controversy.

During the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York today, Chris Cox, Facebook’s vice president of product management, announced the new privacy controls will be “drastically simplified.”

“Our plan is to announce and begin rolling out a drastically simplified version of our privacy controls addressing what a lot of people have asked for and making it much easier to control your information on Facebook starting tomorrow,” he said.

Missteps In Privacy

The statement follows a column in the Washington Post Monday by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that admitted Facebook had made some missteps in privacy as it grew.

“The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information,” he wrote. “Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.”

Facebook has not offered additional details on what the changes will be.