Facebook has been targeting Australian children using algorithms to identify and exploit them through highly targeted advertising.
The Australian newspaper’s Darren Davidson referred to a 23-page Facebook “Confidential: Internal Only” document dated 2017 that he had seen outlining how the social network can target “moments when young people need a confidence boost”.
This article’s intention is to point you to Davidson’s comprehensive and chilling report — it should be compulsory reading if you have children or you are remotely interested in how invasive and powerful social media has become — please read it.
The intent of this commentary is to yet again, warn readers of the perils of using social media – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn et al, and how revealing seemingly harmless information about what and where you ate, where you holidayed, what you like/dislike, and things you probably would not even tell your mother, hand carte blanch power to Facebook et al. It is a message that bears repeating.
{loadposition ray}In 1964 Marshal McLuhan wrote in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man that the medium affects society as much as the content itself – the medium embeds itself in any message it conveys, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. McLuhan wrote in the era of radio and print being overtaken by TV – well before the advent of the internet.
Facebook has become a powerful global medium, far more so than any other because of three things – it is addictive, it knows more about you than you could possibly imagine, and it uses that information to make lots of money. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy – the more you use it the stronger and more invasive it gets.
No one can categorically say that its founder Mark Zuckerberg is evil. Indeed if you read his screeds like “Building a Global Community” you can see he feels his role is to be the very glue that holds a community together, to help set standards for publication and more. Reading between the lines he is explicitly asking each reader to give it even more personal data in the guise of helping it to do more, be more personal, for you. Anf to make more money.
The fact is Facebook sells that data – your data - to advertisers and others and that is something this writer is not prepared to accept. I am not on Facebook and by this action, it is even clearer to me that Facebook preys on people by disguising the medium as the message and increasing people’s vulnerability at a time when we should be doing exactly the opposite. Oh, but that would not make as much money.
If you are concerned just search for “criticism of Facebook” – there are 61 million articles out there or “Facebook privacy concerns” – another nine million there. Wikipedia has a good primer, albeit a little out of date.
Following is a list of 98 data points prepared by the writer in July 2016 and since then the list has grown even more. Since then it has acquired WhatsApp, has introduced chatbots that sell you stuff while gathering more information, introduced object and facial recognition for photos, and has a host of new and highly aggressive ways to expand its reach – to connect everyone – including project Aquilla to connect the four billion people without internet - all to gather data to enable advertisers to sell you more.
Facebook formally admits to collecting data about you albeit in eloquently crafted and obfuscated language. This is the tip of the iceberg as Facebook takes pole position in the “creepy, intrusive stuff they know about you” stakes.
- Location
- Age
- Generation
- Gender
- Language
- Education level
- Field of study
- School
- Ethnic affinity
- Income and net worth
- Home ownership and type
- Home value
- Property size
- Square footage of home
- Year home was built
- Household composition
- Users who have an anniversary within 30 days
- Users who are away from family or hometown
- Users who are friends with someone who has an anniversary, is newly married or engaged, recently moved, or has an upcoming birthday
- Users in long-distance relationships
- Users in new relationships
- Users who have new jobs
- Users who are newly engaged
- Users who are newly married
- Users who have recently moved
- Users who have birthdays soon
- Parents
- Expectant parents
- Mothers, divided by “type” (soccer, trendy, etc.)
- Users who are likely to engage in politics
- Conservatives and liberals
- Relationship status
- Employer
- Industry
- Job title
- Office type
- Interests
- Users who own motorcycles
- Users who plan to buy a car (and what kind/brand of car, and how soon)
- Users who bought auto parts or accessories recently
- Users who are likely to need auto parts or services
- Style and brand of car you drive
- Year car was bought
- Age of car
- How much money user is likely to spend on next car
- Where user is likely to buy next car
- How many employees your company has
- Users who own small businesses
- Users who work in management or are executives
- Users who have donated to charity (divided by type)
- Operating system
- Users who play canvas games
- Users who own a gaming console
- Users who have created a Facebook event
- Users who have used Facebook Payments
- Users who have spent more than average on Facebook Payments
- Users who administer a Facebook page
- Users who have recently uploaded photos to Facebook
- Internet browser
- Email service
- Early/late adopters of technology
- Expats (divided by what country they are from originally)
- Users who belong to a credit union, national bank or regional bank
- Users who investor (divided by investment type)
- Number of credit lines
- Users who are active credit card users
- Credit card type
- Users who have a debit card
- Users who carry a balance on their credit card
- Users who listen to the radio
- Preference in TV shows
- Users who use a mobile device (divided by what brand they use)
- Internet connection type
- Users who recently acquired a smartphone or tablet
- Users who access the Internet through a smartphone or tablet
- Users who use coupons
- Types of clothing user’s household buys
- Time of year user’s household shops most
- Users who are “heavy” buyers of beer, wine or spirits
- Users who buy groceries (and what kinds)
- Users who buy beauty products
- Users who buy allergy medications, cough/cold medications, pain relief products, and over-the-counter meds
- Users who spend money on household products
- Users who spend money on products for kids or pets, and what kinds of pets
- Users whose household makes more purchases than is average
- Users who tend to shop online (or off)
- Types of restaurants user eats at
- Kinds of stores user shops at
- Users who are “receptive” to offers from companies offering online auto insurance, higher education or mortgages, and prepaid debit cards/satellite TV
- Length of time user has lived in house
- Users who are likely to move soon
- Users who are interested in the Olympics, fall football, cricket or Ramadan
- Users who travel frequently, for work or pleasure
- Users who commute to work
- Types of vacations user tends to go on
- Users who recently returned from a trip
- Users who recently used a travel app
- Users who participate in a timeshare
And if you think that is scary it also collects data on non-members too and keeps your data even if you can quit this addictive habit. WikiHow has an article on permanently deactivating your account.
Facebook does fulfil a need – not yours – so you need to make it as hard as possible for them to bite the hand that feeds them.