Ed-Tech Policy News in Brief

Amid Privacy Changes, Facebook Still to Treat U.S. Teens Like Adults

By Benjamin Herold — May 01, 2018 1 min read
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Faced with public outrage, congressional scrutiny, and a sweeping new data-privacy law soon to take effect in Europe, Facebook has vowed to better protect its users’ privacy.

Nevertheless, the social-networking giant’s current approach to collecting and using data from millions of U.S. teenagers—mostly, treating them the same as adults—will remain unchanged.

That includes new parental-consent requirements soon to be unveiled for some teenagers in Europe. Facebook has repeatedly said it will roll out similar measures to the rest of the world, although the details have been hazy. A spokesman for the company confirmed that Facebook will not seek any additional parental consent from U.S. users between 13 and 17.

Privacy advocates say none of the steps Facebook has taken of late will significantly narrow the nature and scope of the data on its U.S. users.

A version of this article appeared in the May 02, 2018 edition of Education Week as Amid Privacy Changes, Facebook Still to Treat U.S. Teens Like Adults

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