Zuckerberg on Facebook TOS: Trust Us

A reassurance from Facebook's CEO fails to curb criticism of allegedly overzealous new terms of service.

Most people don’t pay attention to the volumes of tiny text they agree to before signing up for services online, but when Facebook plays around with the language, people notice. Following a publicized backlash when Facebook changed it terms of use in early February, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has clarified the reasoning behind the new terms in a blog post.

The terms in question: “The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.” As Consumerist pointed out, this language appears to give Facebook permission to retain your messages, wall posts, pictures and other content forever, while the old terms of service implied that the company’s ownership of that material expired when the account was terminated.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded in a blog post on Monday, clarifying that some information had to be retained to make items sent to other users, like photos, wall posts and messages, preserved even if an account disappeared.

“In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want,” Zuckerberg wrote. “A lot of the language in our terms is overly formal and protective of the rights we need to provide this service to you.”

Nonetheless, with the rights in hand and no contract about how they will or won’t use them, the message remains: Trust us.

The world of online social media is still abuzz with the news, ranging from a flurry of nervous twitters over the topic to organized calls to boycott.