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Is Facebook Trustworthy after leak of their data practice?

(Photo by Con Karampelas on Unsplash)

Facebook is just another big corporation and it does what all big corporations do - maximize their profit. Towards this end they will do whatever is necessary and that means that if they will operate in gray areas if they have to.

Although I have a Facebook account but I personally never trusted Facebook and I had an account on Steem before I ever went to Facebook. I made my Facebook account in 2018 and one of the reasons to do so was to promote my Steem content there, but it didn't work out for me. As to why I don't think they are trustworthy, please read ahead.

After the recent Facebook issues that were brought to light, I took look at the whole situation from a fresh perspective. It got me thinking about how this problem was too big to understand all at once. So maybe if I took a look at it from just one viewing point at a time, then I'll get a  better understanding about whether to trust Facebook or not.

So I started digging about just one thing - Pictures and Videos. What happens to your pictures and video content that you put on the Facebook? Take a look at the part of terms and services pertaining to the pictures and videos:




Notice the areas in bold font. Those tiny little phrases can effectively change the whole case if you ever decided to take Facebook to the court for stolen pictures. 

Non-exclusive: This means that while you can sell your picture, post it on other websites, or gift it away but at the same time Facebook can also do the same. Keep in mind if you have a picture you want to sell but you posted it on Facebook then a buyer comes along who wants to buy that picture. If that buyer wants exclusive rights to that picture then forget about selling it since you have already given non-exclusive rights to Facebook. 

Transferable: Facebook can transfer the rights it has over your picture/video to another party of its choosing

Sub-licensable: They can sub-license your picture/video or the their rights to another party 

Royalty-free: They do no owe you any royalty from what they earn after using your pictures/video

Worldwide license: They can do all of the above in the whole wide world

Now also remember that removing/deleting the pictures from your account doesn't mean much as they will be stored in Facebook's database for who knows how long. People claim that you can choose your privacy settings. They should bear in mind it is the privacy from viewing and not from Facebook

Personally I might delete the account but I will think twice about uploading anything that is worth something. That being said I agree that Facebook can have a certain usefulness but it’s not for me and I certainly don't find it trustworthy.

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No way in heck are they trustworthy.  I am not even sure they were trustworthy before  all of that.  They are the big dog on the block though and they pretty much get to do whatever they want.  Have you really seen a huge exodus of users since they had the breach?  I think you have had some people leave here and there, but for the most part everyone is still logging in every day and going about their business.  Me included.  These days, I don't think your data is safe from anyone.  If someone wants to steal it, they are going to get their hands on it no matter what measures you put in place to avoid that.  The best thing you can do is be vigilant about what is happening with your data.  Keep an eye on your accounts and your credit score so you can stop things before they get too bad.  Most institutions are pretty forgiving about this kind of things these days because it is happening more and more.  Trust in this case is basically a lie that we tell ourselves to make us feel better.  None of them are trustworthy, not a single one.  

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Not at all. How many chances does everyone give them. They have repeatedly been caught out in their deceitful practices yet users still use the site.

I just wished people would wake up to what is going on and teach them a lesson by closing their accounts. People are gullible though and nothing will change until Facebook is caught out again doing something wrong.

It just shows us they don't care and are just too big to care. They have made a fortune from this site and people are just too addicted or too stupid to just walk away. I thankfully have never had an account with them and have never logged into their site.


I deleted my Facebook account back in 2012. I wrote about it on my blog back then:


I left Facebook right after the IPO, when Facebook went public.  Something about the direction the company was taking didn't sit right with me.  Turns out my suspicions were not that far off!

So no, I don't particularly trust Facebook.  Not for a while now...