Hoax on Everything you ever published, becoming publicly visible on Facebook!

Facebook, the flagship product of Meta, continues to be the most popular social media platform across the world, connecting millions of people. As with any social media network, privacy is a main concern among Facebook users as well.

Within that context, we noticed viral claims stating that all the content Facebook users had ever published would soon become publicly visible. However, Factcrescendo team found this to be yet another recurring scam message.

Social Media Posts

Facebook users published about the privacy concerns of the platform implying that all the posts, photos, and even private messages ever uploaded and sent via Facebook would soon become public including the deleted messages as well, and this could be used in court cases against the users.

The posts urged users to share the posts including a statement denying permission for publication of such personal content by Facebook without written consent.

Below is one such Claim.

“Don’t forget tomorrow starts the new Facebook rule where they can use your photos. Don't forget the Deadline is today!!! It can be used in court cases in litigation against you. Everything you've ever posted becomes public from today - even messages that have been deleted. So, post the following to your page. Copy and paste it to your page now!

I DO NOT GIVE FACEBOOK PERMISSION TO SHARE ANYTHING OF MINE THAT I HAVE PUT ON THEIR SITE. PICTURES, CURRENT OR PAST POSTS, PHONE NUMBERS OR EMAILS. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CAN BE USED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION OR VERBAL CONSENT.!!”

Facebook | Archived

Such posts were viral among many Facebook users as seen below.

Some Facebook users had thought these details to be true and had expressed their displeasure over such action as well.

Here is another version of the viral message.

Fact Check

A keyword search showed that these claims were not new. In fact, they had been shared many times on Facebook for several years. Number of fact checkers had also debunked this recurring hoax as seen here, here and here.

We searched in the privacy policy of Facebook to see whether there was any statement as stated in the viral Facebook claims, regarding images, messages, posts or even deleted content becoming publicly available, yet couldn’t find any such terms. You can reach Meta's Privacy Policy Centre here.

When a particular user signs up for a Facebook account, agree to a certain amount of terms of service including privacy basics, ad controls, data policy etc. And Facebook users have the option to modify privacy settings at any point of time along with the option on which audiences see concerned content.

Here is a Forbes article on Facebook’s New Privacy Policy. Meta had informed users about the updated privacy policy and terms of services, which come into effect in July, listing what kind of information is collected, how that information is used working with partners, service providers and third parties etc.

Also Read:

Fake Alert: Beware of Hoax Messages Asking for Your Details in Facebook’s Name

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Conclusion

According to our investigation, it's clear that the posts claiming that all the posts, photos published and even deleted messages becoming publicly visible on Facebook is false and a recurring hoax for many years.