Sexual, political and religious orientations, it’s over on Facebook

From 1^er December, users will no longer be able to fill in the specific fields that allowed them to indicate their sexual, religious or political orientations.

When creating or modifying a profile on the American social network, it is possible to give a lot of personal information. Vestige of a time when MySpace was still quite popular, this approach is not or no longer practiced by other players such as Instagram or Snapchat, Facebook being the last platform to have such a field of information.

Simplify navigation

Even if these changes seem minor, it would above all be a question of making the network ” easier to navigate and use “Said a spokesperson for the company. Indeed, by removing the fields “Religious beliefs”, “Political opinions”, “Interest in” (read: sexual orientation) and other fields relating to personal details, user profiles should be less provided, like from what is found in the competition.

Spotted by Matt Navarra, social network consultant, this measure should be notified by Facebook in the coming weeks. Users who have filled in the soon to be deleted fields will receive an email, inviting them to download their data including this information before it disappears. Of course, they can always be shared otherwise on the social network.

A change in attitude towards privacy

Modernization also involves the protection of privacy. Deleting a few lines on the profiles will have a greater impact on it than on ergonomics. Indeed, with the proliferation of data leaks, Internet users are increasingly exposed to malicious uses of their information, and a growing number of them seem to be seriously concerned about this. Asking for less information, even if it is optional, would be a way for Facebook to be less intrusive and to regain the trust of users.

The move is part of a growing focus by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, on privacy. With a focus on private chats, greater security, and active research into internet data leaks, the company notorious for its heavy use of personal data may need to step up such efforts.

Source : Engadget