As reported here by The Register, Facebook are updating their “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” (SRR) and Data Use Policy.
Facebook has 900 million users and stated that 30%, or 270 million, people would need to vote on the proposed changes in order to for the votes to count, otherwise they results would be used in an ‘advisory’ capacity (i.e. ignored).
In reality, 342,632 people (0.038% of all users) voted. However, 297,833 voted against the changes - 87% of all who voted. That’s a majority in anyone’s book but Facebook have chosen to ignore them.
What bothers me is:
- In the brief time I’ve spent looking, I can’t find anywhere that clearly and concisely explains the proposed changes.
- Facebook have failed to say how many people knew about the proposed changes. How can you base actions on a percent of all users voting when you know full well that a significant portion of them would probably not see the ads for the voting in the first place (myself included)?
It seems to me that Facebook fully intended to make these changes and were only doing a vote to appease the authorities/regulators (The Register article states the original statement received over 7,000 comments which forces them to go to a public vote).
They must have known that there was no chance 30% of all their users were going to vote.
Anyway, read the announcement by Facebook for yourself and see what you think.
