medium bookmark / Raindrop.io |

On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg  for the “breach of trust.” He proposed a few changes, including creating a tool that would sit at the top of your News Feed to show you and how to revoke their access to it. It’s certainly a first step, but questions remain: Is this a problem that will ever be solved, when it’s become increasingly clear that users’ interests and Facebook’s interests are at odds. How could Facebook change its platform to give users more control of their data, and possibly rebuild trust among its user base of 2.13 billion people?

Co.Design posed that question to four experts this week. Their answers underline how Facebook could rebuild trust with more ethical design–but even that may not fix its most fundamental problem.

[Source Image: Facebook]

“Currently the way the Facebook platform is designed, it’s hard to even figure out where to go to access data. With one click, users should be able to download their data and delete their data. The ability to remove all traces of yourself and have access to what the company has on you should be built in a priori. That’s what many people are calling designing for trust. 

“I think Facebook and companies like it should all move toward a place of GDPR compliance [a strict set of EU regulations that provide extensive data protections]. What that means is Facebook and many platforms like it were not built in their infancies from a place of data sovereignty and user access. We’re entering a new regime and paradigm where this is not only going to be required by law, but as we’re seeing, the public is demanding it.” –Regina Flores Mir, co-creator of the extension Data Selfie, which gives you an easy way to see what data Facebook has on you

While Facebook does have a way for you to download all your data, under the settings page, it is not easily accessible. Those who have downloaded their information have found that Facebook has extensive call logs, metadata about text messages, and a historical record of all phone contacts. You can manage these settings in the app’s settings, but there is no catch-all way to delete this data.

[Source Image: Facebook]

Provide Real Transparency About Who Has Your Data–And What They’ve Done With It

“One radical step in the right direction would be for Facebook to be completely transparent on a human level about its data collection and algorithmic content. They could allow users to audit every entity (advertisers, apps, etc.) that has ever had access to their data and provide a plainly worded explanation for why a certain ad or newsfeed item is being displayed.” –Charles Broskoski, cofounder of the social networking site Are.na

“I think that Facebook could go a long way toward helping rebuild user trust if they were more proactive about telling users who’s accessing their data through the Facebook platform. Most people think about the privacy of their data in terms of what they share on their feed, and Facebook encourages this: ‘Privacy’ settings focus on posts, friends lists, and their visibility to ‘Friends’ or ‘Friends of friends.’ The API access information, which is at the center of the recent controversy, is hidden under ‘Apps’ settings. If you’re concerned about your privacy, chances are you aren’t going to go looking at the settings under ‘Apps’!