EU users will soon be able to separate their Facebook and IG accounts
With the European Digital Marketplace Privacy Act (DMA) coming into force in March, Meta today announced some additional data control options for EU users that will allow them to completely separate their Facebook, Instagram and Messenger presence.
First, EU users will soon be able to isolate their Facebook and Instagram accounts, with their data stored in isolation from each other rather than going through a link to Meta's Account Center.
According to Meta:
"People who have already chosen to connect their Instagram and Facebook accounts will be able to choose to either continue connecting their accounts through our Account Center so that their information is used across their Instagram and Facebook accounts, or manage their Instagram and Facebook accounts separately so that their information is no longer used between accounts."
This will give EU users more choice over how their personal information is used, although Meta would of course prefer that they maintain this connection by feeding more contextual data into their systems.
The optional sharing of user data also extends to Messenger, as well as Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Gaming, with EU users getting more control over every aspect of how their personal data is used.
"People who use Facebook Messenger can choose whether they want to continue using Facebook Messenger with their Facebook account or prefer to create a separate new Messenger account. People who choose to create a new Messenger account without their Facebook information will be able to use basic Messenger services such as private messaging and chat, voice and video calls."
The latest update is available in addition to EU users now being able to pay a monthly fee for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram, thereby eliminating the tracking of personal data for ad targeting that Meta first announced last November.
It will be interesting to see how EU lawmakers further address the issue of generative AI and the use of input data for AI training sets. The complexities in this case seem even more ambiguous than the use of personal data in social apps, and with the DMA coming into force, this is likely to be the next battleground for the EU.
As noted, the EU's DMA agreement will come into force in March.