5 Ways Facebook is invading your privacy. (and How to Stop It)
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, and CEO of Facebook, once stated that privacy is no longer a “social norm,” and he continues to stand by that statement. Even though Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with friends and family, users have privacy concerns.
Many people are unaware of the numerous ways Facebook violates our Facebook privacy on a daily basis, from constantly changing privacy settings to collecting personal information through third-party apps. Facebook appears to be constantly present in the background.
In this Technical Dost post, we will discuss how Facebook is invading your privacy and, more importantly, how to prevent it from doing so in the future.
1. Facebook Face Recognition
Facial recognition technology may recognize you based on your facial characteristics in photographs or videos. This technology is used by Facebook to notify you when you should be mentioned in a photo or video.
I became aware of this setting while categorizing my wedding photos. After I tagged the first wedding party photo in our wedding album, Facebook began to suggest tags to me. It not only suggested that I tag everyone, but it also recognized each individual’s identity.
You’ll be relieved to know that you can turn off this feature if it bothers you.
How to Turn Off Facebook Facial Recognition
To change your Facebook facial recognition settings, follow these steps:
- Click the tiny triangle icon in the top-right corner of the Facebook news feed page.
- Select Settings, then Settings & Privacy.
- Choose “Facial recognition” from the menu in the sidebar.
You can choose whether or not Facebook can identify you in images by clicking here.
It is troubling that some users may be unaware that their faces are being electronically recognized by a social networking application, despite the fact that we have the ability to change this setting.
Facebook has taken pictures of our faces and used them to identify us, whether we wanted it to or not.
2. You may have unwitting followers.
Facebook friends lists are not the only way to connect with people. If your profile is set to public, you will most likely have a list of people who are “following” you.
Some of these people may be acquaintances, while others may be complete strangers. They only need to follow you to see everything you publicly post; they don’t even need to friend you.
This function is concerning because many Facebook users may not have their Facebook settings protected. They presumably have an unidentified list of followers who can see the content they post on their timelines as a result.
How to Find Out If Your Facebook Followers Are Following You
Check your timeline to see if you have any followers:
- Obtain access to your Facebook profile.
- Following Friends, choose Followers. You can see a list of your followers right here.
You can remove followers from your list by adjusting your privacy settings so that only your friends can see what you’re sharing.
To limit who can follow you on Facebook to only your friends, do the following:
- Click the tiny triangle icon in the top-right corner of your Facebook news feed page.
- Select Settings, then Settings & Privacy.
- In the sidebar, click the Public Posts button.
- Under Who Can Follow Me, select Friends from the drop-down menu.
If you’re interested in learning more about Facebook following and unfollowing, continue reading.
3. Pending Friends Can See Your Posts
Have you ever received a friend request from someone on Facebook but weren’t sure if you wanted to add them?
It’s best to make a decision quickly because the person who sent the friend request can see your profile updates if it remains pending.
Please respond to any pending friend requests to protect your Facebook privacy.
4. Unofficial Apps Collect Information About You
Your Facebook games and applications are not as safe as you think. Facebook grants third-party apps access to your personal information as well as information about your internet usage.
Data breaches can be difficult to detect because these applications frequently store their data on servers that are not connected to Facebook.
However, Facebook obtains additional information about you through third-party applications, groups, and businesses. The information about your offline activities is then used by Facebook to show you relevant ads.
How to Change Off-Facebook Activity Sharing
To find out which third-party apps share your data with Facebook, go to:
- Click the tiny triangle icon in the top-right corner of your Facebook news feed page.
- Select Settings, then Settings & Privacy.
- Select the Your Facebook Information option from the sidebar.
- To proceed, select Off-Facebook activity.
From this page, you can see which third-party programs and services share your online activity with Facebook. You can change the settings for each application by selecting the appropriate icon.
When you sign in to an app with your Facebook profile, be mindful of the access you’re granting.
5. Facebook Can Manage Your Account Even After You Die
Do you ever think about what would happen to your Facebook account if you died? If you die without appointing someone to manage your account, your information remains on Facebook.
As a result, it’s critical to select a legacy contact who will manage your account if something were to happen to you. They can also convert your Facebook profile into a memorial page where friends and family can send you supportive messages and condolences.
Selecting the Best Facebook Legacy Contacts
On Facebook, you can select a legacy contact as follows:
- Click the tiny triangle icon in the top-right corner of your Facebook news feed page.
- Select Settings, then Settings & Privacy.
- Selecting the General tab.
- Under Memorialization Settings, you can choose a friend to serve as your legacy contact by entering their name.
Your legacy contact should be a partner or sibling who is very close to you.
Control Violations of Facebook Privacy
Despite the fact that Facebook isn’t always forthcoming about the potential privacy invasion scenarios that their site presents, there are options available to protect yourself.
When Facebook updates its platform, you should always check your Facebook privacy settings to ensure that no new options have been added and that the ones you previously selected remain in place.
Technical Dost would suggest, it is your responsibility to safeguard your personal information. Keep an eye out for changes to Facebook privacy policies to see how they might affect your personal information.
5 Ways Facebook is invading your privacy. (and How to Stop It)
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