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Facebook Will Allow Users To Vote On Privacy Changes

Facebook's logo.
Emmanuel Dunand
/
AFP/Getty Images
Facebook's logo.

Facebook will ask its nearly 1 billion users to vote up or down on changes to its privacy policy.

According to a statement released by the social network, the company also put changes up for a vote in 2009. Voting begins today and goes through June 8.

"If more than 30 percent of all active registered users vote, the results will be binding," Facebook said. "If turnout is less than 30 percent, the vote will be advisory."

TechCrunch reports that the changes users will vote on are "relatively benign." The AP explains:

"The vote is over updates the company announced in May, a week before its initial public offering. The changes include new sections explaining how it uses people's information. They open up the possibility for Facebook to start showing people ads on outside websites, targeting the pitches to interests and hobbies that users express on Facebook."

You can vote here; here's the proposed Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, and here is Facebook's long explanation of the changes.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.