In the embodiments of this application, the user terminal may report, to the data management network element by using an access network element and a core network element, location privacy setting data entered or updated by a user. In a possible implementation, the core network element includes the access management network element. In another possible implementation, the core network element includes the access management network element and a location management network element. In still another possible implementation, the core network element includes the access management network element, a location management network element, and the gateway mobile location network element. When reporting the location privacy setting data, the user terminal may report a calculated first message authentication code of the location privacy setting data to the data management network element, so that the data management network element verifies, based on the first message authentication code, whether the location privacy setting data is maliciously modified by a visited network or the gateway mobile location network element in a process of reporting the location privacy setting data by the user terminal to the data management network element. The user terminal may use a private key of the user terminal to perform digital signing on the location privacy setting data entered or updated by the user, so that the data management network element verifies, based on digital signing, whether the location privacy setting data is maliciously modified by the visited network or the gateway mobile location network element in a process of reporting the location privacy setting data by the user terminal to the data management network element. The user terminal may further perform secondary authentication to further check whether the location privacy setting data is maliciously modified by the visited network or the gateway mobile location network element.