{"id":592,"date":"2018-03-31T16:21:02","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T14:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=592"},"modified":"2018-03-29T16:22:24","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T14:22:24","slug":"facebook-to-stop-allowing-data-brokers-such-as-experian-to-target-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"Facebook to stop allowing data brokers such as Experian to target users"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook<\/a>\u00a0is shutting down a feature that allowed \u201cdata brokers\u201d such as Experian and Oracle to use their own reams of consumer information to target social network users, the company has announced.<\/p>\n

The feature, known as \u201cPartner Categories\u201d, will be \u201cwinding down over the next six months\u201d,\u00a0Facebook announced in a terse blogpost<\/a>. The company says the move \u201cwill help improve people\u2019s privacy on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, data brokers were able to target specific sets of Facebook users, letting them bring their wider ad-targeting metrics on to Facebook. Now, they will either have to use Facebook\u2019s own targeting tools, or a much more specific form of targeting known as \u201ccustom audiences\u201d, which broadly requires companies to have a prior relationship with the users they\u2019re targeting.<\/p>\n

Facebook is also closing down a data flow in the opposite direction, preventing the same data brokers from receiving anonymised information about how their ad campaigns have been received.<\/p>\n

The moves come after weeks of bad press for Facebook,\u00a0sparked by reporting in the Observer and the Guardian<\/a>\u00a0that revealed Facebook\u2019s lax oversight of data received by third parties. Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal Research Group, described the move as \u201can attempt to generate positive press on the privacy front without directly causing a meaningful negative revenue impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the margins,\u201d he said, Facebook\u2019s claim that the change would improve people\u2019s privacy \u201cis probably true, but if privacy in the use of data on the platform were the goal, the change has relatively limited impact\u201d.<\/p>\n