WATCHING OVER YOU
Facebook and Twitter can still stalk you online even if you DELETE your account – by spying on your friends
It's bad news for anyone who values their privacy
DELETING your social media won't stop tech firms from tracking your every move.
That's the terrifying conclusion from a new study that investigated how apps like Facebook and Twitter can follow people who don't even use social media sites.
2
Lecturer Lewis Mitchell on applying mathematics to social media giants like Facebook and Twitter
Last year saw Facebook admit to a number of privacy blunders that left tens of millions of users exposed.
Many users responded by simply deleting their Facebook accounts – their only hope of regaining control over privacy.
But research published in Nature Human Behaviour shows that account deletion isn't enough.
Data scientists were able to accurately predict a person's posts without ever looking at their social profile.
2
"There's no place to hide on a social network," said Lewis Mitchell, co-author and senior lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Adelaide.
More than 30million Twitter posts from 13,905 users were gathered up by the University of Vermont and the University of Adelaide.
Researchers were then able to use the information from Twitter messages of 8 or 9 of a person's contacts – and then predict that person's later tweets.
According to the study, even if a person leaves a social media site (or never even joined), posts from friends can still provide about 95% of the "potential predictive accuracy".
"You think you're giving up your information, but you're giving up your friends' information too," said James Bagrow, a mathematician at the University of Vermont who led the research.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg apologises to EU lawmakers over data leak at the European Parliament
It means that normal people will struggle to avoid the clutches of social media sites, who can build profiles on people and use this for ad-targeting purposes.
Even if you don't have social media accounts, it's still possible for websites to track your movements across the web – building a picture of what you like and don't like.
This can then be used to show you ads that companies think you may be interested in.
And even if you never use any social media site, it's still possible to build up a profile on you, researchers warn.
"You alone don't control your privacy on social media platforms," said Bagrow.
"Your friends have a say too."
How to delete Facebook – easy steps to QUITTING for good
Here's how to quit right now...
Temporarily deactivating your account is really easy – and you can log back in at any time to undo it:
- Follow this
- Choose "Manage your account" and then scroll down to click "Deactivate your account"
Facebook has a special page for permanent account deletion, which you can find below:
It's worth noting that you can also download a copy of your information from Facebook as a back-up:
- Click the down arrow at the top right of any Facebook page and select Settings
- Click "Download a copy of your Facebook data" at the bottom of the General Account Settings
- Click Start My Archive
MOST READ IN TECH
Facebook recently denied being behind a sinister conspiracy to harvest your face through '10 Year Challenge' posts.
And in 2018, the company admitted to letting outside firms read your private messages.
Facebook's value plummeted in 2018 after privacy controversies made investors lose faith in billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Do you trust Facebook to take care of your private information? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Topics