Facebook to developers: don't use our data for "surveillance" tools

Facebook is underscoring that developers can't use the data they get from the company — and its subsidiary Instagram — "to provide tools that are used for surveillance." Rob Sherman, the company's Deputy Chief Privacy Officer, had this to say in a Facebook post announcing the policy change:

"Our goal is to make our policy explicit."

Why this matters: Advocates have condemned the use of data from social networks to assist law enforcement in surveillance. After the ACLU of Northern California highlighted the use of a tool called Geofeedia last year, Facebook and Instagram both moved to limit its access to their platform's data.