In recent weeks, global media outlets have been filled with reports of Facebook user data being misused by Cambridge Analytica, and after a long time the public was forced to take an interest in protecting its own privacy – while the hashtag #DeleteFacebook appeared among social media trends.
We bring you a summary of the options available to you if you want to at least check what data Facebook (FB) holds about you, limit the processing of your user data, or permanently delete yourself from the network altogether. But first, let us recall what actually happened.
It is a campaign
The combination of data mining from social networks and social engineering to conduct a more effective, targeted political campaign is nothing new to security experts and up-to-date political scientists – moreover, in most cases it is not illegal activity – and Cambridge Analytica is almost certainly not the only company in the world that decided to turn the concept into a profitable reality. However, the effectiveness of a campaign conducted in this way is difficult to assess. The main shock for traditional media and the public, given the misuse of user privacy, was therefore the ease with which the consulting company had long used millions of personal data records insufficiently protected by Facebook. According to some reports, Cambridge Analytica even had access to private messages of affected users. All they had to do was grant an application access to their personal data before completing an entertaining quiz, of which thousands circulate on FB.
The company was able to create at least a partial profile for 87 million Facebook users, subsequently using these profiles to conduct a more precise political campaign – or rather several independent campaigns tailored to relevant, defined population groups – for the benefit of its client. Recent elections and referendums in the US, the United Kingdom, and also here in the Czech Republic were affected, where the consulting company worked for a political entity that has not yet been identified, allegedly using foreign money.
What does Facebook know about you?
In the Settings, Your Facebook Information section, Facebook offers its users the option to download a ZIP file that should contain all personal data accumulated about your account on the platform. You will find obvious things there, such as your bio and status history, but also more interesting information, such as metadata of all photos you uploaded, a list of ads you clicked on and applications to which you granted access, the history of your conversations and IP addresses used, or even the unique features of your face that AI uses to recognize it.
You can find a detailed guide to archiving Facebook data using the native tool here.
Updating settings
With GDPR just around the corner, FB has begun encouraging its European users to familiarize themselves with its business model of monetizing content through advertising targeted based on your personal data shared between Facebook and third parties. As you click through the form, you are repeatedly offered a link to settings where you can take the first steps toward taking control of your own privacy on Facebook. Targeted ads and Facebook's sharing of data with third parties can be limited, but they cannot be completely disabled, as that would deprive FB of its only source of revenue.
You can also enable or disable recognition of your own face in other people's photos (based on those in which you have already been tagged). On the one hand, thanks to AI that recognizes faces, FB can notify you if anyone uploads your photos to the network; on the other hand, it creates a gallery that does not belong to you and that can also be misused for purposes other than simply offering you a cycling helmet for two months after the day you bought one.
Do you really want to leave?
If the available settings do not seem satisfactory to you and you no longer want to expose yourself to the risks associated with processing personal data and sharing it for targeted advertising purposes, you have no choice but to leave FB.
You have two options: either deactivate your account, which will temporarily remove it from search results and make it impossible to send it a message until you reactivate the account, which you can do at any time simply by logging in; or permanently delete the account, including all stored personal information associated with it. You can find both options in the Settings, Your Facebook Information section.
Back up – even your Facebook profile
Leaving Facebook can be a great relief, whether the reason is privacy concerns, mental health, the strength of your own political convictions, or something else. However, before you really delete FB, make sure you have archived the data from your account according to the instructions listed above.
Alternatively, if you have a subscription to Acronis True Image 2018, you can create a backup of your FB profile that is easier to navigate and use for partial recovery than an archive created by Facebook. In addition, if you decide to return to the platform in the future, True Image enables fast recovery of data from the old profile to a new profile, including photos, information, recent messages, etc. The same service is also available for Instagram accounts.
Whatever you decide, remember that in today's world your personal data is a product that social networks sell, so trusting them to care about protecting your privacy is truly misplaced. Take matters into your own hands and protect your personal data carefully.
Article author: ZEBR.ai editorial team
