Why You Should Stop Believing Any Facebook Post That Guarantees Your Privacy
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It feels like every year, another viral post goes around on Facebook warning users that everything is going public and that somehow you can stop it from happening. This time around, the post explains that all your private photos, messages, and more are about to become public, unless you post a disclaimer that says otherwise.
The post reads as follows:
"Deadline tomorrow !!! Everything you've ever posted becomes public from tomorrow. Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook's privacy policy. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. With this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. Copy and paste."
However, none of this is true. Facebook isn't making everything public (some of it probably already is due to your privacy settings) and no matter what you do, Facebook is free to do whatever it wants with the information on your profile. See, when you sign up for Facebook, you agree to the company's Terms of Service and you can't alter that with a Facebook post.
If you are concerned about what's on your profile, we recommend doing a privacy checkup on your account and limiting what you post on social media. In the meantime, don't reshare this post — or delete it if you already have.