Facebook deleters have been shocked to discover the amount of data that was kept on them by the social network – including detailed logs of every incoming and outgoing call, text messages and other information.
The Guardian reported it’s the deleting process itself, which includes the option of downloading a copy of a user’s information from Facebook, in which people are discovering just how much personal information has been harvested.
A Facebook spokesperson explained it was common practice for phone contacts to be uploaded when a person signed into a messaging or social app for the first time with their phone, and that users were asked to give permission first.
“People can delete previously uploaded information at any time and can find all the information available to them in their account and activity log from our Download Your Information tool,” the spokesperson explained, per The Guardian.
Many users were scrambling to delete their profiles after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which personal data from about 50 million Facebook accounts ended up with the election consultancy.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took out several full-page ads in major daily newspapers on Sunday to apologize for the debacle, according to Tech Crunch, but that hasn’t slowed the #deletefacebook movement.
There was speculation the scandal could be the downfall of Facebook, but Wired noted that the social network has about 2.2 billion users globally and many were not eager to delete their accounts.
Facebook is a powerful data-gathering entity which keeps tabs of internet trawlers via a combination of cookies, buttons and plugins on third-party websites, which allows businesses to create more personalized adverts targeting individuals.
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