Facebook hoax tricks users into posting ‘completely pointless’ status updates – don’t fall for it
A HOAX Facebook post encouraging users to copy and paste a message about protecting their privacy is circulating the social networking site again.
The old message is not true but is causing panic because it states that unless users post it to their Timeline then all their private photos will be made publicly available overnight.
The wording of the false message can vary but its overall content and what it advises users to do remains the same.
It claims that there is a "new Facebook rule where they can use your photos" with a deadline of today and threatens that this rule can be "used in court cases in litigation against you".
The hoax scares people into thinking that everything they have ever posted, even things that have been deleted, will become public unless they copy and paste the status to their own Timeline, apparently expressing that they would not like their content to be used.
It is not yet known who created this false message but things like this have been periodically circulating on social networking sites for years.
Facebook does actually have the right to distribute and share any of your content but it doesn't own the copyright.
If you didn't want Facebook to do this you can't stop them by posting a status.
You could disagree to its Terms and Conditions but in doing so you wouldn't be able to use the social networking site so it's a bit of a catch-22 situation.
Facebook's state: "You own the content that you create and share on Facebook and the other Facebook Products you use.
"To provide our services, however, we need you to give us some legal permissions to use this content.
"Specifically, when you share, post or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (e.g. photos or videos) ... you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free and worldwide licence to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate and create derivative works of your content.
"This means, for example, that if you share a photo on Facebook, you give us permission to store, copy and share it with others."
You can end this agreement with Facebook by deleting your content or account and you can edit your privacy settings by clicking on the "Settings & Privacy" section.
We have reached out to Facebook for comment.
Facebook's biggest cyber-security mistakes
Here's some of the major times Facebook let us down...
- In 2007, Facebook's first targetted advertising product, Beacon, caused outrage because there was initally no opt-in option about the kinds of information users wanted to share
- In 2009, a Federal Trade Commission investigation was triggered because Facebook users complained that the new privacy tools were too confusing and pushed users to make more of their personal information public
- In 2010, it was revealed that advertisers were using a privacy loophole to retrieve revealing personal information about Facebook users and the company had to change its software
- In 2011, the FTC charged Facebook with lying to customers about how their information could be kept private but making it public anyway
- 2018 saw Facebook's biggest privacy scandal to date with reports that Cambridge Analytica misused user data and Facebook had to admit that it had failed to protect its users
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Have you spotted this hoax message or something similar on your Facebook? Let us know in the comments!
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