How Facebook could delete all YOUR beloved old photos within the next month
Social media red alert: Mark Zuckerberg's firm will cull your snaps unless you take urgent action
Facebook could soon delete many of the photos you took using a smartphone unless you swap to its new Moments picture sharing service.
The social network has sent out a series of ominous messages to users, warning that old images will be binned within the next month.
Anyone who used Facebook's 'syncing' feature is at risk.
This function stored all the pictures taken on a smartphone in a special private folder, so users could decide whether to share them publicly at a later date.
But Facebook wants the world to use its new Moments app, which collects pictures based on when they were taken and who is in them.
In a statement, Facebook wrote: "Photos you privately synced from your phone to Facebook will be deleted soon.
"Earlier this year, they were moved to Moments, a new app from Facebook. The Moments app lets you organize and privately share photos from your phone, and download or delete photos you've synced to Facebook.
"If you want to keep these photos, download and log into Moments before July 7.
If you don't want Moments, download these photos directly to your computer from your Facebook profile before July 7."
Mark Zuckerberg's firm first started warning people about the upcoming selfie slaughter last week, prompting a rush of downloads which sent Messenger soaring up the App Store charts.
The change is likely to flummox many users, because the sync function was actually discontinued in 2012.
Nonetheless, if you love your selfies, you should probably make sure they are saved permanently - especially if you don't fancy using Moment.
Facebook's move was not popular on the other social network, Twitter.
"This is surely going to become an increasingly common threat: co-operate, or we delete your archive," wrote author Will Davies.
"Say no to surveillance capitalism by not installing Facebook's Moments app," added an "Acclaimed insomniac cypherpunk" called Hammy Havoc.
"Let them delete your photos. Plenty of superior alternatives."
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