Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram organized a virtual briefing session on its approach to privacy for Pakistani journalists in Islamabad. Arianne Jimenez, Privacy Policy Manager at Meta in the Asia Pacific apprised the reporters about the company’s policies to protect user data and information safety on its platforms. The program was part of its endeavour to foster awareness regarding user privacy and tools available to users to exercise greater control over their information on Facebook and Instagram.
The Meta representative said protecting people’s information is central to Meta’s vision which is why it designs privacy controls into its products with guidance from experts in areas like data protection and privacy law, security, interface design, engineering, product management, and public policy. She said Meta gives people more control over their privacy and security choices through specialized tools and features.
Arianne Jimenez emphasized that Meta doesn’t sell user information. Partners and third parties who have access to certain data are required to follow rules about how they can and cannot use and disclose the information. She further said Meta strives to help people understand its data practices by giving them more information and controls on its products, content, and ads. She said Meta’s privacy center serves as the educational surface for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger and provides helpful in-depth information on privacy.
She said Facebook and Instagram show ads so that the platforms are available to everyone free of cost, however, people can take control of their ad preferences by clicking and managing their preferences right on the ad and the same can be done with posts.
She said Meta gives users tools for deleting anything they’ve posted or even transferring data to other services because Meta believes that part of having a free and open internet means that people should be able to transfer their data to other apps and services they use. She stated that the process of refining the privacy and security system is on-going at Meta and the company will continue to invest and innovate to give its customers the best user experience.