Following a growing demand for explanations concerning the ownership of user data on the social networking website Facebook, founder Mark Zuckerberg offered them in a blog posting, putting an end to the debates.

Zuckerberg underlined on his blog that users owned the information they chose to share on Facebook and also had the power to decide who got to see those personal details.

The heated debates arose when the website’s terms of service were amended and a provision that read users had the ability to remove the information was deleted.

Facebook, a network comprising 175 million users, explained that the altering that the terms of service had undergone had been the result of the way users had used the website.

In addition, Zuckerberg stated that the changes had been aimed at making sure that in case a user deleted their account, all the messages sent to friends would remain on the website.

Furthermore, the Facebook founder said that the measure had been consistent with the methods e-mail services used, adding that one of the reasons that had determined them to change the terms of service had been to render the aforementioned clear to users.

After the terms were altered, some users created groups on the Facebook social networking website in order to express their opposition towards the changes.

Nevertheless, for the time being, it remains shrouded in a blur which information remains on the website after a user deletes their Facebook account.