Channel 7 Sunrise GadgetGuy Val Quinn and presenter David Koch spoke on the growing #Delete Facebook movement. People are tired of it knowing more about you than your mum.
The #Delete Facebook movement is gaining terrific momentum after Cambridge Analytica accessed 50 million user’s personally identifiable information and attempted to influence the outcome of the recent US Presidential elections.
David Koch
David KochAnother scandal with social media giant Facebook misusing personal information has prompted a global online movement… hashtag “Delete Facebook.”
- Is it true we cannot delete our entire Facebook footprint?
- What about advertisers? Can they access our information forever?
- What is your advice if you wanted something completely gone?
Val Quinn – Channel 7 Sunrise GadgetGuy
To make things permanent – you must choose to delete, NOT deactivate.
Facebook has the right to use your intellectual property – but this license ends when you delete, not deactivate your whole account.
It can take up to 90 days to completely delete your account and even then, it will leave lots of traces…
Old messages and tagged photos will remain – so if you put something online, be prepared for it resurface one day…
The video clip is here.
Val explains.
“Facebook is a free app that allows you to keep up with Facebook friends. Its business model is to learn absolutely everything about you and monetise that via highly targeted advertisements.”
“Say an advertiser, Apple for instance, wanted to reach all males, from higher social-economic areas, own a certain type of car, play golf, and don’t own an iPhone. Facebook can cull a list from its 2.2 billion users and place highly targeted advertisements into a user’s Facebook stream for iPhone, golf apps, and more.”
“On the positive side, I prefer highly targeted advertisements that perhaps know what I need. On the negative side, I shudder at the amount of information Facebook holds on me. People need to understand that a free service has a price – in this case, extreme levels of personal information and sacrifice of privacy are used for targeted advertising.”
“The problem is that Facebook is a drug. Many users need to have their daily or hourly hit, or they become depressed or anxious. It is called FOMO – fear of missing out. FOMO is now a real medical term meaning a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. This social anxiety is characterised by a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing.”
#Delete Facebook
If you are ready to make a move understand two things.
First, that Google search has 6,520,000 results for Delete Facebook. This is not a flash-in-the-pan thing – it is serious.
Second, A lot of Facebook content like photos, conversations and likes cannot be removed.
While you can delete your account a lot of traces remain via third-party cookies and links in other users pages. You cannot fully erase your Facebook footprint.
First, access your Facebook data and be mildly shocked by the information it holds in the activity log.
Next select ‘Start my Archive’ and download your information (at least the stuff Facebook admits to) to a PC.
Next, Delete your account.
Facebook may suggest that you simply deactivate your account so you can reactivate it later. Don’t be fooled – your information is gold to it.
Sometime after, up to 90 days, your account will be deleted if you remind them to do so. But also remember that Facebook owns WhatsApp and Instagram, and these can be equally pervasive so get rid of them too.
