Facebook Returns To Previous Terms of Service Agreement

Facing an outcry from its subscribers, Facebook has backtracked and replaced its new terms of service (TOS) agreement instituted Feb. 4 with the previous version. Mark Zuckerberg, the social network’s chief executive officer, announced the change in a blog post on the company’s site Tuesday night.

“A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised,” Zuckerberg wrote.

“Going forward, we’ve decided to take a new approach towards developing our terms. We concluded that returning to our previous terms was the right thing for now,” he continued.

After a wave of criticism from users who have formed several Facebook Groups protesting the new ToS and an announcement from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a consumer electronic rights and privacy group, stating it planned to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

This is not an inconsequential matter, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC. “We’ve filed similar complaints in similar matters in the past like this. And Facebook was concerned, I think. They are also concerned because a lot of their users were opposing what they were planning to do. So it was a good result.

“I don’t think the privacy issues have gone away, but Facebook did the right thing, and we’re happy about that,” he added.