Britons will be able to make social media platforms like Facebook delete information, including content published in their childhood, under government proposals that will bring data laws into line with new European regulations.
Individuals will have more control over their data by having “the right to be forgotten” and ask for their personal data to be erased in the measures announced by digital minister Matt Hancock on Monday. Companies will also have to ask people for permission to collect personal data rather then rely on pre-selected tick boxes, which are largely ignored, he said.
The changes also would make it easier for people to find out what data companies or organisations hold on them, and would ban firms from collecting personal information without explicit consent.
The proposed law gives a regulator power to levy fines of up to $22 million on firms that fail to comply. The new rules will bring British law into line with the European Union’s general data protection regulation (GDPR), which tightens and extends the scope of data protection law. The GDPR is enforceable from May 2018.
