Still worry about your privacy? Forget about it!
Privacy Nightmare in Facebook
I have never been one to think so much about social media privacy and how it affects me directly. My mom, however, thinks otherwise. When she joined Facebook in 2013, she barely used it and soon forgot she even had an account. Recent news has, however, revealed that Facebook never forgot about her. According to a Washington Post news article, Facebook has become too huge and inevitably taken a toll on almost everyone’s privacy. Even though Facebook has had many controversies before, the recent whistleblower incident and a blackout in most parts of the world have renewed the heated debate on its monopoly and the privacy of its users.
According to the Washington Post, Facebook violates our privacy in ways that perhaps we never expected. I was surprised to learn that it isn’t just the Facebook app that is gobbling up our information. The monopoly has persuaded millions of other businesses, websites and applications to spy on its behalf. Even for users like my mom who has not actively used Facebook or my grandpa who has no account, their information is constantly being collected and used to target them.
One may ask how exactly Facebook is able to do this. Facebook reportedly gives its business partners a tracking software which they are able to embed in their apps, websites and loyalty programs. It is, however, unfortunate that any business that wants to do digital advertising has no choice but to feed their activities into Facebook’s vacuum. Facebook uses this data behind the scenes to match it up to your account and shape your online experience with it. I was genuinely concerned to learn that out of the 100 most popular smartphone apps, you can find up to 61 of them with Facebook software. It is even scarier that Facebook has trackers in up to 25% of websites.
What drives me crazy
What caught my eye about this story is how widespread the consequences of this privacy breach are. I think that it is unfortunate that most young people like me rarely interrogate how they use social media sites. I have accounts in almost all social media sites and often use Facebook to login into other websites and applications. This got me thinking just how much information Facebook knows about me. It all makes sense now how Facebook is able to push advertisements on my Facebook wall with such accuracy. It is almost as though they read my mind. I am sure that most people have had this feeling. In light of recent events, I believe that social media privacy is a conversation that young people should start being involved in. What happens when all this information lands in the hands of a rogue state? Can it be used to influence political outcomes? Does it affect how we fight Covid-19 at the moment? These are all questions young people must start asking themselves.
I remember reading about Cambridge Analytica and its link to Facebook three years ago but never took must interest in the issue. Cambridge Analytica and Facebook were accused of accessing millions of users’ personal data without their consent in attempts to influence elections around the world including Brexit. Even though the story has since been forgotten, it is something that got me thinking due to the recent events. Just like the New York Times suggest, I believe that we cannot trust Facebook to police its self. Regulations may need to be put in place to ensure public privacy is not traded for individual profits.
