Facebook Inc. is by far the biggest social media company currently in existence and will likely continue to grow its user base. The company has acquired 82 other companies, including the likes of Whatsapp, Instagram, Giphy and Oculus VR. It’s no wonder they’ve become so massive. Facebook Inc. has also faced much scrutiny over data breaches that just seem to keep on happening, with one of the most recent ones having exposed over 267 million user accounts in 2019. This is not something new, yet people continue signing up to use Facebook services with the vast majority accepting the terms of service without a second glance. With features like Facebook Messenger, Facebook Marketplace, Games and integration with the ‘Login with Facebook’ for pretty much any alternative online platform, it’s easy to see why.
Number of active users as of April 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
List of Data Breaches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_breaches
A Facebook user recently found and posted a video recording of ‘hidden’ privacy settings in Facebook that allows it to track ‘Off-Facebook Activity’, which can include personal banking sites and credit card information.
Watch the video below to learn how to turn off these default privacy settings on Facebook:
Note: The video shows Facebook in its ‘Classic’ mode. The below images show Facebook’s new interface.
Summary of instructions to turn off the privacy settings:
Click on the options menu and select ‘Settings & Privacy’
Select ‘Privacy Shortcuts’
Select ‘Your Facebook Information’ and then ‘View or clear your off-Facebook Activity’
Here you’ll find data that could include banking details and/or credit card information.
This is not a breach of personal privacy as Facebook defines the collection of this kind of data and other items in their terms of service which can be accessed directly from their login page by clicking on the ‘Privacy’ link found at the bottom.
We strongly recommend reading through this page.
Here’s a quote from Facebook’s Data policy relating specifically to this article:
“Information about transactions made on our Products. If you use our Products for purchases or other financial transactions (such as when you make a purchase in a game or make a donation), we collect information about the purchase or transaction. This includes payment information, such as your credit or debit card number and other card information; other account and authentication information; and billing, shipping and contact details.”
Users have two options:
- Accept the terms of service to use or continue using Facebook
- Reject the terms of service and delete the Facebook account and collected data