How Meta enforces purpose limitation via Privacy Aware Infrastructure at scale

Purpose Limitation Enforcement at Scale with Policy Zones

Needs

• Programmatic Control: To move away from relying on human audits for controlling data flows and towards real-time programmatic controls.
• Granular Flow Control: Maximizing reuse of existing data and business logic while ensuring data flows are controlled in a granular manner.

Problem

Traditional point checking controls lack real-time monitoring capabilities, and access control becomes complex in environments where data and code are shared.

Solution

Implemented Policy Zones as part of the Privacy Aware Infrastructure (PAI) to programmatically control data flows in real-time and adapt to changing requirements.

How Policy Zones Works

• Function-based Systems: Enforces data processing rules in systems that process data through a series of function calls.
• Batch-processing Systems: Controls data processing in batch environments by annotating relevant data.

By leveraging Policy Zones, Meta ensures that data processing is limited to specified purposes and monitored in real-time across its infrastructure.