One of the most prolific applications used today is Facebook. Although it is often looked down upon by younger generations it has continued to hold fast to its market share. There aren’t many people you can find that don’t have a Facebook account and use it daily. Facebook is a big part of people’s lives today, which is why it is important to evaluate security concerns. There are four many security reasons that this article will cover.
Facebook Tracks You
Facebooks tracks everything you do on its platforms. These platforms include Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram as well as website tracking. In fact, Facebook tracks you even if you don’t have an account (https://www.newsweek.com/facebook-tracking-you-even-if-you-dont-have-account-888699). The amount of data that Facebook collects on people is scary. Once they have this information it can be used in a number of ways; most notably for sale to other companies and governments.
IT WON’T COME as much of a surprise that Facebook tracks you on its platform—that’s why it can resurface your birthday photos from five years ago—but you might not yet realize the scope and the depth of its tracking all across the internet. Facebook’s tentacles stretch out across other websites and services, into the various apps you’re using on your phone, and to the places you physically visit in the real world—especially if you decide to check in on Facebook while you’re there.
https://www.wired.com/story/ways-facebook-tracks-you-limit-it/
What kind of information does Facebook track (https://joindeleteme.com/blog/does-facebook-sell-your-data/). Here are some of the many ways:
- When you log in and from where (including your IP address)
- How long you spend scrolling
- People, accounts, pages, groups, and hashtags you connect with
- Places you check in to
- Pages you follow
- How you use Facebook’s camera
- Metadata of content you share (like the location of a photo)
- Contact information (if uploaded from a device)
- Who you talk to on Messenger and for how long
- Items you buy through Facebook
- Information other people share about you
Facebook Speads Misinformation and Fails to Acknowledge Bias
There are many articles online that talk about the use of Facebook to spread misinformation. It isn’t that Facebook the company is spreading misinformation purposefully. Actually, they are working hard to try and stop the spread of misinformation. However, their platform is being used for this activity and there isn’t a clear way to stop it.
In the wake of mainstream media shifting increasingly to the left, those on the right have looked for new platforms to get and share information. Social media was the logical choice as it became the logical alternative. This started happening a number of years ago during the rise of the intellectual dark web and has continued to progress. Facebook was built to be a social platform and has grown as a result of its success in this area. However, it is not built to distribute news. As such it has yet to develop a method to prevent the spread of misinformation by its users (https://www.unite.ai/how-facebooks-ai-spreads-misinformation-and-threatens-democracy/). To make matters worse, companies and governments have also used Facebook to spread misinformation (https://principia-scientific.com/facebook-admits-it-promotes-state-sponsored-misinformation/).
As Facebook has tried to stop the spread of misinformation they have implemented a system to verify information shared. They use both automated tools and human fact checkers to validate information. However, as with anything written or validated by humans it is impaired by personal bias. Facebook has faced criticism from both sides for bias and has only increased in frequency since 2016 (https://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006).
Unlike the Bible which transforms culture, Facebook is transformed by culture. The changing political landscape is only one of many factors that is shaping the future of Facebook. Regardless of political views it is clear that the spread of misinformation and clear bias is of great concern.
Facebook Lacks Suficient Data Privacy
In 2019 alone over 1 billion user records were leaked, which equals half of all of Facebook users.
https://selfkey.org/facebooks-data-breaches-a-timeline/
Since 2013 Facebook, and its platforms, have been hacked at least nine times. The latest hack in April affected another 500 million accounts. What is even more surprising then the frequency and number of accounts affected is the lack of concern. People continue using Facebook without much regard to the data loss unless they are unable to access their account. Maybe this is the result of the nature of Facebook as it is intended for connection and sharing. Regardless, there is an increasing awakening to the need for data privacy and a users ownership over their data.
Facebook Shares User Data
Facebook claims that it doesn’t sell its users’ personal information. However, that doesn’t mean that your private data is 100% safe. According to Facebook’s Data Policy, the company may share information about you with third-party apps, advertisers, other partners (like vendors and service providers), and any companies that it owns.
https://joindeleteme.com/blog/does-facebook-sell-your-data/
Even though Facebook doesn’t sell your information they do share your information and sell targeted advertising. It’s a subtle distinction between selling data and sharing data/selling targeted advertising as either is used to accomplish the same goal; manipulating people. By using Facebook you are agreeing to their use of your data in this fashion.
If you are interested in learning more about Facebook and how to delete your account properly check out the following video.