Facebook is in the news so regularly the past few years that even the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal leaves users rolling their eyes. “We agreed to give them access when we clicked ‘Agree to terms of service,’” many will cry. It is true; if we choose to use information-sharing apps that pair us with peers and cater to our interests, we have to expect to sacrifice some privacy. But, the longer we blindly agree without even knowing what we sacrifice, the easier Mark Zuckerberg and Big Data will be able to manipulate us.
When users log into Facebook and use it to log into other apps like Instagram, Spotify, Messenger or WhatsApp, the user becomes the product being marketed. Gigantic data firms purchase the psychological profiles Facebook created of their users based on activity. Using Cambridge Analytica as only the shadiest, most recent example, the firm purchased data from Facebook on millions of individuals to micro-target information and advertising specifically to influence their vote.
Did you log into Spotify using Facebook and pay for a subscription? Facebook has your credit card number and knows what music you listen to.
Do you have the Messenger App to talk to distant relatives? Facebook has your calls and messages and knows your relation to that family member.
Some may not worry that Facebook has all this because, after all, everyone is using the app, and it is used to deliver content that directly appeals to them right to their feed. No one should be OK with Facebook selling that personal data en masse to foreign governments, nefarious advertising firms or political actors.
Double the population of the U.S. and add it to the population of China. That is how many Facebook users there are, roughly 2 billion. Having access to billions of individuals’ personal information is power that most governments could only dream of. Rather, Facebook users willingly gave their information to a private company run by Zuckerberg and his cronies. Facebook has the right to do anything with the data it has collected. It is our responsibility as users to at least know what it is Facebook is trying to do and how it can have enormous consequences to the way we think and interact with one another in the real world, buy products, and vote. Perhaps Zuckerberg is too concerned with public office aspirations or his legacy to continue doing sketchy things with users’ information, and the future will not be bleak. As his controversies string together, however, users would be wise to begin preparing their defenses. #DeleteFacebook picked up steam on Twitter immediately following the recent scandal. Delete Facebook and the rest of its apps or do not, but at least be aware of how they are using your brain as a product to large, faceless entities.
Joseph Lioto | The Oswegonian
