Facebook Backtracks Content Policy After Protests

NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook may be backing off from a controversial new change in its user policy.

The about-face came after a flood of online protests over changes in the site’s terms of use.

The uproar began after bloggers pointed out the changes, and said Facebook can seemingly “do anything” it wants with users’ content—even after users cancel their accounts.

Thursday, users saw a message saying the site is reverting to its previous terms of use policies while the latest issues are resolved.

It also spells out that California-based Facebook “doesn’t claim rights” to users’ photos or other content.

    (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Here is the full message that users saw Thursday when logging onto Facebook:

Terms of Use Update
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Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook blog.

If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.