Facebook has morphed into a part of many people's daily lives. We use it to catch up on the latest news, learn about how our friends are doing and as a result, we learn to trust the website.
But be wary in who, or what, you trust, as Facebook has been under fire recently for extremely scandalous activity. From selling your personal information to threatening your security, it's time for us to rethink how we use the world's most popular social networking site.
In 2014, Facebook signed a two year deal with Mastercard that gives the company access to users' information. The company would track users' posts and see how certain ad campaigns affected a user's mood. But Mastercard took it one step further by then selling user information to other companies, which is a major source to the spam emails and phone calls that are now a normal part of our lives.
If Facebook is able to sell a user's personal information, the next question may be about the extent of data Facebook has on a user. It turns out, every time a user is using Facebook, the website collects the user's browser and Internet history without consent. To make matters scarier, an investigation by data consultant Nik Cubrilovic found that Facebook uncovers users' private activity even after they logout of the site. What Facebook does with this information is unknown, but considering the ludicrously high number of deals they have made with companies to sell users' personal information, many speculate browser history is among data sold.
So Facebook stores your private activity, and then sells it to other companies. It can't get any worse right? Wrong. Not only are big corporations accessing your private information, some of the most dangerous hackers in the world are using user data as well.
A 2014 investigation by the Next Web found up to 137 million duplicate accounts on Facebook. These duplicate accounts post casual status updates, posing as regular people until other 'friends' open links posted by these duplicate accounts. The second the link is opened, all your personal information is swiped and sold to umbrella companies to use your identities and financial information. That means that someone posing to be your friend on Facebook could simply share what seems to be an innocent video, and in a matter of minutes, your identity and financial data is distributed across the Internet.
Of course, even with all of these threats to privacy that Facebook may pose, few are willing to give up the site's brilliant ability to speed up and enhance social interaction in all aspects. The only thing we can do is be more wary of the scams that lurk on Facebook, and know that what you post on Facebook will be seen by many more than just your friends.
