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BY EVAN THOMAS

ANCHOR CANDICE AVILES

Is getting a fundamental change made at Facebook as easy as calling a vote?


TechCrunch reports law student Max Schrems is doing just that . Schrems is spearheading an effort to overhaul some upcoming Facebook policies.

The new policies would adjust how Facebook uses your contact info, how it uses the locations from any GPS-tagged updates you make, and how it serves ads based on everything you do on and submit to Facebook.

Schrems’ privacy group, Europe v. Facebook, wants Facebook to explain in plain terms what it’s doing with data, and give users more control over how the info is used.

The group has showered Facebook’s Site Governance page with comments. Per Facebook’s own rules, any issue that gets more than 7,000 comments automatically goes to a vote.


Whether the changes get past the voting stage is another matter. The Register explains .

"He's posted up a list of suggestions but, unsurprisingly, says Facebook isn’t interested in discussing the issue further and certainly isn’t promoting the voting process other than via a link on its corporate pages.”

A binding vote requires 30 percent of Facebook’s user base to get behind the issue. That’s a lot of people, but Ars Technica suggests it’s among the smallest viable sample for such a democratic process.

“…the participation of 270 million people seems like an insurmountable number. On the other hand, if the percentage requirement were much lower, a small minority of users would be dictating how the majority of people use Facebook.”


High bar aside, The Next Web calls the vote an act of “absolute transparency” on Facebook’s part.

“By allowing its users to have a say in the process, Facebook hopes to avoid any situations where users are blindsided and start complaining. It’s quite a fascinating process, and I believe other companies should adopt similar things.”

This isn’t the first time Facebook has put something to its users for a vote, but it might be the last. Facebook’s release on the issue suggests the social network is getting a little big for this kind of democratic experiment .


“…we plan to review this process in the coming months… to determine whether it appropriately reflects the growth of our community and business and to ensure it still serves its original purpose.”

Voting on the planned policy changes will continue through June 8.