EU wants social media companies to better protect consumers

Three of the world's largest tech giants have been asked by the European Union (EU) to make their terms of services more customer-friendly and compliant with EU law.

At the request of the European Commission, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ agreed to amend and better align their terms and conditions with the EU's consumer-protection regulations.

According to Eurostat, 63% of internet users in the EU aged between 16 and 74 used social networks in 2016. 

Among younger Europeans, aged 16 to 24 years, almost nine in 10 were internet users, while 88% were active on social networks in 2016.

New deal 

The three US tech companies, operating some of the world's largest and most succesful social media networking sites in the world, on Thursday published the changes they have made for European consumers.

Facebook and Twitter, for example, agreed to notify users 30 days in advance of any change in their terms.

Facebook and Google agreed to clarify the grounds for closing down a user's account, while Twitter is working to delineate the process for appealing against the deletion of an account.

According to a statement by the Commission, while Google's latest proposals appear to be in line with requests made by consumer authorities, Facebook and – more significantly – Twitter have only partially addressed major issues about their liabilities, or how users are informed of possible content removal or account deletion.

Regarding the 'notice and action procedure' used by consumer protection authorities to report and request the removal of illegal content, the Commission argued companies' efforts were still lacking. 

While Google+ has set up a protocol, including deadlines, to deal with the requests, Facebook and Twitter have only agreed to provide a dedicated email address national authorities can use to notify of infringements, without committing to dealing with such requests within specific timeframes.

A list of all the changes made is available here. 

The three companies are set to implement the changes to their terms in all language versions in the first quarter of 2018.

In March 2017, the tech companies initially agreed to do more to fight against fraud and scams that mislead consumers when using the social networks.

The Commission launched an enforcement action in November 2016 after receiving numerous consumer complaints for fraud or scams on these websites.

It will present a 'New Deal for Consumers' in April featuring a series of reforms to the existing consumer law.