Protests force Facebook to backtrack on 'terms of service'

A wave of protest from Facebook users around the world has compelled Facebook to undo its planned change regarding its Terms of Service and how it collects and stores users' data. The site has now made it clear that controversial changes will be reversed.

Facebook, one of the prominent social networking sites of the world, has bowed down to immense pressure from users of the site regarding how it collects and stores personal information and media. On Wednesday, the company said it would withdraw changes to its Terms of Service that concerned data supplied by the users of the site. The reported u-turn comes after the company faced massive protests from users who were upset the company wanted to keep personal information of users (including photos and messages) even after they closed their accounts. The reversal announcement was conveyed to most users in a message posted on the company's official blog. The message said: “Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.” Users were then invited to to a different page by clicking a link for more details. On the company's official blog, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reads wrote:

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.

Many of us at Facebook spent most of today discussing how best to move forward. One approach would have been to quickly amend the new terms with new language to clarify our positions further. Another approach was simply to revert to our old terms while we begin working on our next version. As we thought through this, we reached out to respected organizations to get their input.

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. As I said yesterday, we think that a lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective so we don't plan to leave it there for long.

The Terms of Service outlines appropriateness of conduct in general terms as well as granting a license for storing user data.