Social Media · facebook.com
10 out of 20 Compliance-bound
Tells you everything, then makes it as hard as possible to act on any of it.
How many clicks to find the privacy policy from the homepage?
One click, from the homepage footer. Opens as a well-structured navigable web page with section navigation, an effective date, and plain-language highlight summaries throughout. Not a PDF. Facebook has invested seriously in making its policy findable, which is what makes the Consent and Control scores hard to read as oversight.
Is there a meaningful choice about cookies and tracking before data is collected?
No banner, and an opt-out that requires an account. Nothing appears on first load and no guest-accessible opt-out exists on the homepage. The “Ad choices” footer link leads to a help centre article that requires a login and then seven steps to reach ad preferences. Logged-out visitors are pointed at their browser cookie settings, which is deflection rather than consent.
How hard is the policy to read, how much of it is there, and can you get it in one piece?
Grade 11.5 across 7,372 words, in one place. Difficulty 2, length 1, access 4. The policy is genuinely well made, with section highlights and plain-language summaries, and it is also very long, which is what the length component is there to register. Measure it yourself.
How many clicks to reach data settings, and can you delete your account yourself?
Six clicks to delete. Profile picture, Settings & Privacy, Settings, Accounts Centre, Manage accounts, Manage, then deactivation or deletion. Self-serve deletion exists, buried in a nested settings architecture.
Find the support page. How many clicks, and is there a way to speak to a human?
Help in one click, no human at the end of it. No phone, no chat, no email. Asked directly, the chatbot confirmed that no human agent is available.
Overall finding
10 out of 20 Compliance-bound
Facebook holds full marks on Transparency and one of the lowest totals in the index. The policy is easy to find and honestly written; the choice about whether to be tracked is never offered, and the route out runs six clicks deep. The information is there. The power is not.
Revised 6 August 2026
Scored 12 until 6 August 2026. Clarity was remeasured with the published tool and fell from 4 to 2, taking the total to 10 and making Facebook the lowest score in the index. The original 4 was a reading grade alone; the remeasured score counts length, and the policy is 7,372 words. Behind the Scores and the Facebook and TikTok essay were both built on the two brands tying at 12, and they no longer tie. Those pages keep the argument as published, with the correction dated rather than written over.
- Scored
- 12 April 2026
- Revised
- 6 August 2026
- Region
- Canadian site, private window
- Session
- Logged out, except Control
Scored from public evidence only. No company can pay to change a score, and paid relationships are disclosed here. Read the independence statement.