‘Privacy-Focused’ Facebook Puts The Spotlight On Groups

Facebook is launching a major redesign of its app and website built around letting people connect with groups that share ir interests — an attempt to shift its focus away from  untrammeled public sharing that has helped spre hate speech, extremism, misinformation and livestreamed video of massacres. 

new features, anunced Tuesday at company’s annual F8 developer conference, are part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s broer strategy for countering Facebook’s growing array of critics, emboldened regulators and competitors. 

Zuckerberg, who at one point stood in front of a giant display reing “ future is private,” ackwledged widespre skepticism of his plan to turn Facebook into a “privacy-focused” social network. 

“Look, I get that a lot of people aren’t sure that we are serious about this,” he said to laughter from crowd. “We are committed to doing this well and to starting a new chapter for our products.” 

redesign isn’t without risks of its own. When Snapchat rolled out major changes in late 2017, people hated m so much  service lost 3 million users in a single quarter ; analysts think it still hasn’t recovered. 

Zuckerberg and his chief lieutenant, Sheryl Sandberg, have apologized repeatedly over past year for Facebook’s ever-expanding list of mishaps over privacy, data misuse and security problems. Last week, company said it is setting aside $3 billion to cover a possible fine from Federal Tre Commission over privacy violations. 

Amid all that, Zuckerberg is encouraging Facebook users to rely more on private messaging and “communities.” redesign is structured to make it as easy to connect with groups as it is with individual friends, he said. 

groups cover a wide range of interests and topics — hiking, hair care, parenting, rare diseases. Recommended groups will appear on users’ homeps. ( redesign will also do away with Facebook’s signature blue banner.) 

Groups have also caused controversy for company, especially as communities pop up around extremist topics. Facebook is working to remove groups that have “harmful content,” Zuckerberg said, and to de-emphasize those that share misleing information. 

redesigned mobile app is live for U.S. users w, while desktop version is coming later this year. This is Facebook’s fifth major mobile app redesign since it launched more than a dece ago. 

A desktop app for Messenger is also coming later this year. And Messenger will eventually make end-to-end encryption default setting for all messs, rar than an opt-in choice. End-to-end encryption protects messs as y travel between people, making it impossible to see m unless you are on sending or receiving end. 

Inside WhatsApp — by far Facebook’s most secure app — company is making status updates more private. Only people in each or’s contact books will be able to see such updates. 

privacy changes extend to Instagram as well. Facebook executives say company is starting to test new features that hide “likes” from photos. Users will still be able to see how many likes ir photos get, but number won’t appear at bottom of each post. 

Facebook’s dating service will come to U.S. users later this year. Facebook also anunced a way to date friends — but only if each user separately ds or to his or her own “secret crush” list. 

Zuckerberg said last week that Facebook’s focus on private communications will be built out over next five years or more. 

A few years ago, company probably would have rolled out se changes right away and dealt with problems as y came up, Zuckerberg said. But longer. “We have to change a lot of ways we run this company,” he said. 

Last year’s F8 conference took place weeks after Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political data-mining firm accessed personal data on tens of millions of Facebook users without ir consent. 

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