Facebook users can no longer vote on proposed policy changes at the company, sparking concern from privacy groups.
Until now, the company promised that any of its proposed policy changes that attracted 7,000 “substantive” comments would be put to a vote.
While some comments have led the company to develop alternatives to some proposed policy changes, “The voting mechanism … actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality,” the company said Wednesday
“We’re proposing to end the voting component of the process in favor of a system that leads to more meaningful feedback and engagement,” Facebook said in a post detailing the proposed changes published on Wednesday.
Facebook’s past policy changes have attracted close scrutiny from the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) in Ireland, where Facebook’s European Union headquarters is situated, and the recent change is no exception.
The decision to drop the vote for users, hass prompted data protection regulators in Europe to seek urgent clarification from the company.
“We will be seeking urgent further clarification from Facebook Ireland and if we consider that the proposed changes require a specific consent from E.U. users we will require Facebook to do this,” DPC spokeswoman Catriona Holohan said via email.
Two months ago, the DPC completed a second audit of Facebook’s previous round of policy changes, concluding that the social network had complied with most of its recommendations. In some areas, Facebook went even further than it had been asked, for example deleting all European facial recognition data. But now, Facebook is changing its policies again.
Facebook also announced that it would roll out new ways of responding to questions and comments about Facebook in which Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan will answer privacy questions. She will also host regular webcasts to address questions about privacy, safety and security, Facebook said.
Facebook users have a chance to review the proposed changes and comment on them before 9 a.m. Pacific Time on Nov. 28. When the comment period has ended, Egan will respond to the comments in a webcast.