This viral Facebook hoax is resurfacing—here's why you shouldn't be fooled by it
In the realm of social media, it's easy to be fooled by posts that have been shared by thousands of other online users, making you wonder about its legitimacy.
One particular hoax has been spreading across Facebook for the longest time now, dating back to at least 2012, and is now recently resurfacing once again.
The paragraph-long message warns other users that Facebook is about to reveal all of their private photos, information, and messages to the public and instructs them on how to prevent it.
The post has since been changed as the years go by, but its most recent variation appears as follows:
"Hello 🔵 It’s official. Signed at 8:16 PM. It was even on TV. Mine really turned blue. Don't forget that tomorrow starts the new Facebook rule (aka... new name, META) where they can use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!!! I do not authorize META, Facebook or any entity associated with Facebook to use my photos, information, messages or posts, past or future. With this statement, I notify Facebook that it is strictly prohibited to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. Violation of privacy may be punishable by law. Here's how to do it: Hold your finger anywhere in this message and “copy” will appear. Click 'copy'. Then go to your page, create a new post and place your finger anywhere in the empty field. 'Paste' will appear and click Paste. This will bypass the system…. He who does nothing consents."
Here's why you shouldn't fall for it
You can rest easy as all of your private information will remain safe and visible to your eyes only.
According to Meta's Transparency Center, privacy and the protection of personal information are fundamentally important values for Facebook.
"We work hard to safeguard your personal identity and information and we do not allow people to post certain types of personal or confidential information about yourself or of others," Meta stated.
"We remove content that shares, offers or solicits personally identifiable information or other private information that could lead to physical or financial harm, including financial, residential, and medical information, as well as private information obtained from illegal sources," it added.
However, the social media site will allow private information to become publicly available in cases where it is mentioned through news coverage, court filings, press releases, or other sources.
Facebook had already posted a fact check in the past disproving this hoax in 2012 wherein it stated, "Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been."
How to keep your personal information safe
No matter how you're particular about your privacy, you still need to share personal information with Meta if you want to use their platforms.
In their privacy policy, Meta specified that it needs to collect certain information from you in order for you to create an account. For example, if you don’t provide an email address or phone number, they won’t be able to create an account for you to use their products.
While the company does provide its advertisers with certain information such as ads that people engaged with and when people engaged with that commercial content, among others. This is only so they can provide reports about the general demographics and interests of people who engage with an advertiser’s ad or commercial content.
This helps in making personalized recommendations to show on your feed, such as videos to watch and communities to join.
"We don't share information with these advertisers and their vendors that by itself can be used to contact or identify you, such as your name or email address, unless you give us permission," Meta stated.
But if you still want to be extra-secure about your information, Meta urged users to refrain from posting content that shows their personal identification numbers and identity documents.
These include national identification numbers such as Social Security numbers, passport numbers, national insurance numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, and more, as well as government IDs.
You should also avoid posting your contact, financial, residential, and medical information.
PhilSTAR L!fe has also reached out to Meta for comment on the resurfaced hoax.