Facebook is collecting your SMS texts, calls and contacts – how to stop it
FACEBOOK users deleting their accounts are raising the alarm on the amount of personal data the company holds, including complete logs of incoming and outgoing calls.
The #deletefacebook campaign began after revelations that massive troves of user data were harvested by a rogue app and later used for political campaigns.
You've got two options if you decide to leave the social network: you can either deactivate and keep your data stored on Facebook, or delete your account and download a back-up of the data the platform stores on you.
It's this personal data file that reveals the extent of Facebook's snooping, and it has come as a shock to some.
One user, Dylan McKay, said that for the period October 2016 to July 2017 his logs contained “the metadata of every cellular call I’ve ever made, including time and duration” and “metadata about every text message I’ve ever received or sent”.
And others are also expressing concern over the data that's being logged, including their contacts, friends' birthdays and their calendars.
It seems like the issue is limited to Android devices, with Apple's strict privacy controls blocking the majority of apps from accessing call history or SMS messages.
Facebook asks permission to upload this kind of data to help you find friends on the social network, and to help its algorithm personalise content to your liking.
Facebook Data Breach – what happened?
Here's what you need to know...
- A personality quiz app obtained data for 270,000 willing Facebook users
- But it also sucked up info on all of their Facebook friends
- That meant the app caught data for around 50-60 million users
- This data was reportedly sold on to UK research firm Cambridge Analytica
- Cambridge Analytica helps politicians and lobby groups create propaganda
- The data was supposedly used to boost the Brexit campaign and get Trump into the White House
- Facebook is said to have known about the data breach since 2015
- The social network asked companies with the data to delete it, but didn't enforce the rule
- The Guardian revealed the incident in an exposé thanks to Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie
- There are now serious questions about whether Facebook has broken laws by giving up this data
Messenger for Android also asks permission to read call and SMS logs for a similar reason, which it then continuously collects unless you disable the feature.
How to stop Facebook recording your calls and texts
It's fairly straightforward to block Facebook from spying on your calls and contacts.
On Android: Just open Messenger, and from the home menu tap your profile picture in the top right corner.
Then tap People, and turn Synced Contacts off.
The process is exactly the same on iPhone.
You can view and remove your contacts from the "" page.
Here you also have the option to "delete all" of the contacts you've added to Facebook.
Additionally, you can block it by permanently deleting your Facebook account.
Facebook has responded to the outrage in a statement.
"Call and text history logging is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android," said the company.
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"This helps you find and stay connected with the people you care about, and provides you with a better experience across Facebook. People have to expressly agree to use this feature."
It continued: "While we receive certain permissions from Android, uploading this information has always been opt-in only.
"This was first introduced in Messenger in 2015, and later offered as an option in Facebook Lite, a lightweight version of Facebook for Android.
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"This feature does not collect the content of your calls or text messages.
"Your information is securely stored and we do not sell this information to third parties. You are always in control of the information you share with Facebook."
As usual the company is narrowing in on the fact that you have to allow it to collect your data, therefore it's not doing anything wrong.
But as this latest backlash highlights (again), users aren't aware of the amount of info they're handing over by accepting one simple request.
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