News > Social Media Facebook Redesigns Settings Page, Scatters Privacy Options The update started rolling out August 4 By Cesar Cadenas Cesar Cadenas Twitter Writer California State University - Long Beach Cesar Cadenas has been writing about the tech industry since 2016 on a variety of topics like cryptocurrency, video games, the latest gadgets, and much more. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on August 5, 2021 04:24PM EDT Fact checked by Rich Scherr Fact checked by Rich Scherr Twitter University of Maryland Baltimore County Rich Scherr is a seasoned technology and financial journalist who spent nearly two decades as the editor of Potomac and Bay Area Tech Wire. lifewire's fact checking process Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Social Media Mobile Phones Internet & Security Computers & Tablets Smart Life Home Theater & Entertainment Software & Apps Social Media Streaming Gaming Facebook announced on Wednesday it has started rolling out a redesign of its Settings page, claiming it wants to "make…tools easier to find." This new redesign has led some, like tech news site TechCrunch, to be skeptical about Facebook's goals. TechCrunch pointed out that Facebook made a 2018 decision to make privacy tools easier to find by centralizing them into Privacy Shortcuts. The new direction makes it seem that Facebook has gone back on that earlier decision. The new location of the privacy settings is unknown, and TechCrunch points out that users will have to scour through the new settings menu to figure out how to configure privacy. The Settings redesign also has relocated several other settings so they are alongside related topics. Settings will now be grouped into six different categories: Account, Preferences, Audience, Visibility, Permissions, Your Information, and Community Standards and Legal Policies. For example, the News Feed will now be under Preferences. Facebook claims it also has improved its Settings search function to make finding certain configurations easier. According to Facebook, the new categories were created and named to closely resemble "people’s mental models," referring to what category a user would think of when searching for a specific setting. This decision was made based on data from TTC Labs, an online data resource owned by Facebook. Facebook Facebook did create a “Privacy Checkup” shortcut that will be located at the top right corner of the new landing page for easy access to privacy settings. TechCrunch theorizes the redesign is a way to push people away from those privacy settings. A study published in 2018 by the Norwegian Consumer Council details the ways tech companies like Facebook redirect people away from privacy and manipulate them into giving up sensitive data. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up! Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit