In the world of technology and gadgets, there are many mediums to connect people across the globe, though there is one platform which has remained almost unchallenged in the last one decade. Facebook has been successful in connecting millions of people on a single platform. With tremendous features and effortless connectivity, it has won millions of hearts. Though it has helped many to connect with their dear ones, the privacy of the user is the main concern.
Recently Facebook has been in news for privacy concerns and allegations put on Facebook about data leakage to a third party and privacy concerns regarding the information shared by the users. Facebook is a platform which has helped several businesses to flourish. Digital marketing and advertisement have helped many to gain profit via Facebook. Many advertisers and brokers gain a lot of profit by buying and selling the information of certain Facebook users.
Facebook has a contract with companies and brokers which collects and shares data of Facebook users to the third party for the purpose of advertisement sells. In a recent announcement to media, Facebook said it is ending an Ad-targeting option which has allowed several companies and such brokers to target a selected group of users and gain the information and sell the gained information to the third party who mainly are advertisers. A spokesperson from the company said in an interview that shutting the system for sharing the user’s information will help in making Facebook privacy more intact.
The announcement and action against such sharing of information took place when the private information breaching case of Cambridge Analytica came into limelight. Though Facebook had been warned about same several times by many researchers it failed to take any action against the breaching.
It is not the first time when Facebook has faced such problem, in past few months several allegations have been put on Facebook and its usage. One of the most critical and talked about criticism was spread of false news and outrageous stories on the Facebook. Actions were demanded to control the spread of such news articles and should not be allowed for sake of business. The moral responsibility of the social media and its role in influencing the societies across the world was questioned and part of the debate.
The step would hopefully protect the personal data of users and also give them more control over their privacy. Now facebook allows downloading your content before deletion, it is an option in the Settings for some time. So always know how could you save your valuable personal data!