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Facebook taking user votes on proposed policy changes, will require 270 million to be binding

Facebook taking user votes on proposed policy changes, will require 270 million to be binding

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After an extended comment period and a few revisions, Facebook is ready to adopt a new "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" and data use policy. The comment period is over for this round, but Facebook has decided to once again put it to a vote of its users

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Facebook messenger iOS stock

After an extended comment period and a few revisions, Facebook is ready to adopt a new "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" and data use policy. The public comment period is over for the changes, but Facebook has decided to put it to a vote of its users. Any Facebook member can use the company's custom "Site Governance Vote" app to choose whether they'd prefer the new policies or the old. Facebook has provided a rundown of the changes to the SRR and the data use policy for your weekend perusal.

In order for the vote to be binding, 30 percent of active, registered users will need to take part in the vote. Given that Facebook touts 900 million members, our hunch is that whatever the result of the voting is, it will be "advisory" instead of binding. If Facebook can manage to get over 250 million people to vote on a privacy policy it wouldn't be the largest election in history, but it would probably crack the top ten.

If you don't vote, well, there's the possibility you won't get another chance next time around — Facebook is hinting that its governance model is likely to change: "While our participatory mechanisms may change, our commitment to greater transparency, accountability and responsiveness will not." The (virtual) polls will be open until 9:00AM PDT on June 9th, if you'd like to take part.