Facebook Inc. said Friday that the changes are in response to an audit by Irish data-protection authorities last year.
As part of the changes, Facebook has created a new section of its data use policy - formerly known as privacy policy - to explain how it uses "cookies." Cookies are commonly used to track people's activity around the Web.
Facebook's international headquarters are based in Dublin, Ireland, a member of the European Union. This means the company is required to comply with European data privacy laws.