Facebook will make it easier for its more than two billion users to manage their own data in response to a tough new European Union law that comes into force in May, the social network's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said today.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the biggest overhaul of personal data privacy rules since the birth of the internet and aims to give Europeans more control over their information and how companies use it.
Speaking at a Facebook event in Brussels, Sandberg said Facebook aimed not only at meeting the GDPR's requirements, but at doing even more.
Companies found to be in breach of the law face a maximum penalty of four percent of global annual turnover or €17.57 million, whichever is greater.
Facebook's use of customer data and tracking of people's online activities has already come under investigation from several EU data protection authorities.
Sandberg said Facebook had not done enough to stop the abuse of its platform and would double the number of people working on safety and security to 20,000 by the end of the year.
The EU has put Internet companies on notice that it will legislate if they do not do a better job self-policing their services for extremist propaganda, hate speech and other abuses.
Facebook - which has been criticised for failing to stop Russian-based operatives using its platform to meddle in the 2016 US presidential elections - is focusing on disrupting the economic incentives to spread fake news, Sandberg said.
Moscow denies any interference in the US election.
Facebook to make it easier for users to manage data
