The Facebook policy debate

Facebook sought to recover from the controversy over its terms of use by today allowing users to help decide the site's policies.

Announcing the move, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, said Facebook did not own the content such as photos and messages posted by users on the site and never intended to give that impression.

The company said its new approach to site governance offered its users around the world an unprecedented role in determining the future policies of the service.

Facebook released the first proposals subject to these new procedures – The Facebook Principles, a set of values that will guide the development of the service, and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities that make clear Facebook’s and users’ commitments related to the service.

Over the next 30 days, users would have the opportunity to review, comment and vote on these documents.

“As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between internet companies and the people they serve," Mr Zuckerberg said.

“The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share."

Facebook has 175 million members worldwide and thousands protested last week when the company quietly updated its terms of use, indicating that it controlled people's content even after they deleted their accounts.

The company quickly reinstated the old terms of use and today tried to move on from the controversy.

“Companies like ours need to develop new models of governance,” Mr Zuckerberg added. "Rather than simply reissue a new Terms of Use, the changes we’re announcing today are designed to open up Facebook so that users can participate meaningfully in our policies and our future.” Facebook users can go to the site and see the new proposals and comment on them in a virtual "town hall meeting".

But the push for democracy only extends so far. In a blog post the CEO was careful to make a distinction between the site's policies which will be subject to comment and change and the introduction of new products, some of which have been controversial in the past.

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