If you’re reading this, you may have heard of the recent Cambridge Analytica Facebook scandal (with a complicated timeline of events) and a lot of talk from people deleting (or threatening to delete) their Facebook accounts using the #DeleteFacebook hashtag.
Listen up! Before you go clicking that delete account button on a whim here are three basic things you should consider:
1) If you delete your Facebook account, will you still use Instagram or Whatsapp (both owned by Facebook)? Are you signed into any accounts (such as Spotify or Netflix) through Facebook?
2) Even if you delete your account, your data could still out there in “anonymized” form.
3) Keep in mind that Facebook is not the only platform out there with all of your data. Even the DMV sells your data!
I know a lot of you are not going to delete your Facebook. I know I’m not.
I need to keep an eye out and make sure people don’t accidentally share fake news.
So, what I recommend is taking one annoyingly long step and two easier steps towards monitoring your Facebook data. The two easier ones are at the bottom, but the important one is at the top.The steps should be taken in order.
STEP ONE: CHANGE OTHERS’ ACCESS TO YOUR DATA.
THIS IS THE BIGGEST STEP. Um, and it’s made of multiple steps. I’m so sorry you have to go through this but stay with me here.
So remember the saying “if you’re not paying then you’re the product?”
Well, the way that Facebook makes money is through advertisement and “anonymized” data so, yeah you’re the product. But as a human being, you have (some) rights. So let me guide you to the part of Facebook where you can edit what other applications can access about you.
If you’re doing this on your computer, it’s easy.
Take the shortcut to the Settings Page: https://www.facebook.com/settings
Or click the down arrow icon next to the “?” icon and select “Settings”
You’ll get to a page where on the left you will see a selection of tabs. I recommend you carefully look through the settings for each of these tabs.
The relevant part for this article arethe Apps and Ads sections.
If you’re on your phone, follow these instructions:
1) Click on the icon with the three horizontal lines (It is on the the lower right hand side on my app, but each might be different)
2) Scroll to the bottom and find “Settings”
3) Access your Account Settings” and scroll to the bottom to find the “Apps” and “Ads” section.
I’ll tackle the Ads section first.
Be prepared to be really amused by the categories in which Facebook’s algorithms have placed you! Personally, I thought it was really interesting how Facebook has placed me in two cultural categories. Okay. Sure.
(On the phone, you have to access this via Your Information > Your Categories.)
You also need to visit this page every once in a while because it’s automated, so you will get categorized on a regular basis.
After the Ads section, check out the Apps section.
On this page is a list of all the apps with which you have logged in via Facebook. Don’t just delete all of them. DO SO CAREFULLY.
Before you go deleting all of your apps:
1) Make sure you have another active login method other than Facebook.
2) Keep a spreadsheet of all the login numbers that you’re associated with and to which application. That way if you’re inclined, you can email the developers individually to ask them to remove all your data from their database. Good luck.
3) CLICK THROUGH CAREFULLY. This page was designed to be as painful as possible. You should “edit” each app before you delete them. Check to see if there is an option asking to “remove all past data” or “history” with that application. Some of them have it. PAY ATTENTION.
Now to the bottom part.
Here is a very helpful article by Quartz about this section, feel free to read it in case I missed anything.
But WHOA!!!
As I write this now I discover that a main part of that Quartz article asks you to access a portion of that screen which is no longer available! Um, @Quartz I think we need a follow up on this!
Instead of seeing this:
We are now seeing this:
So, either Facebook has removed access to your information by other applications, or they removed your ability to control it. Or both. Which is it? The “Apps Others Use” section is still being referenced on Facebook’s own help page: https://www.facebook.com/help/262314300536014/
LONG ANNOYING STEP DONE!
One giant leap for you, one small leap for mankind.
But leaping, none-the-less.
STEP TWO: GET YOUR OWN COPY OF YOUR DATA
Now that you’ve removed permissions, you’ve graduated from the hard part. Now, go download your own data to get a copy. This is fairly straight forward.
Here’s a Washington Post article describing this process. Otherwise:
Go back to www.facebook.com/settings and click Download A Copy:
You will be taken to a page, where you’ll need to “start your archive” and be prompted to “request your download.” You will then get an email in your spam box (so search for it with “From: Facebook” in the email search box).
Click on the link in the email (which is only available to you for a limited time, per each time you make a request) and you will be lead to a page on Facebook to allow you to download your enormous zip file. You will receive all of your messages, your photos and your videos alongside a html folder with all of your contacts, any Facebook pokes you’ve sent and received, etc.
DO NOT STORE THIS ONLINE ON THE CLOUD.
Keep it on a hard drive that you will maintain.
Unless you don’t care about your privacy, then go ahead.
ALRIGHT, STEP THREE: YAY! DELETE!
If You’re So Inclined, Delete Your Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account
Wait, no? You’re not quite ready yet? Just Kidding?
OKAY, OTHER STEP THREE: CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR
1) Use an encrypted messaging app such as Signal https://signal.org/ for sensitive data and private conversations.
2) Only post online what you don’t want to hide. Post less. Understand that everything you share is public.
3) Stop getting your news from social media if possible, and subscribe to Axios https://www.axios.com/ or some other non-social media driven news source. Read everything with a critical eye. Humans are human. Don’t share something unless you can verify it’s validity.
4) Only sign up for applications that you absolutely need, and don’t use something Facebook to login to it. Also, remember that not every application is created securely. Not every application will delete their data cleanly, and it might not even be intentional.
