Facebook is beefing up privacy protections on the world's most popular online social network, addressing mounting pressure to better secure personal data exchanged among its nearly 500 million members.
The issue has come to a head in recent months amid concern that Facebook makes it possible for Internet stalkers, cyber criminals and even nosy neighbours to gain a wealth of information about its users without their knowledge thanks to a confusing system for setting privacy safeguards.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday his company would roll out changes over the coming weeks that would give users more powerful tools to prevent personal information from being accessed by others.
For instance, Facebook will allow users to block all third parties from accessing their information without their explicit permission. It will also make less information available in its user directory and reduce the number of settings required to make all information private from nearly 50 to less than 15.