Did You Know You've Agreed to These 5 Things By Using Facebook?

When you use Facebook, you agree with various terms without even realizing what’s in the fine print. Let’s break down five significant things you may have agreed to by joining the platform.

1 Location Tracking—Even When GPS Is Off

Based on a report from The Hill, Facebook is known to track user locations, even if your GPS is off. This may sound surprising, but Facebook uses alternative methods to track you, including IP addresses, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth signals, to gather location data.

So, even if you turn off your phone’s location tracking, Facebook may still know where you are and where you go. If you’re logged into the app, this location tracking continues as part of Facebook’s advertising and engagement strategy.

2 Facebook Can Use Your Content However It Wants

Facebook lets you "own" your content, but it gives itself broad rights over it. According Facebook's terms, the company has a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use content you post, including photos, videos, and updates. This license allows Facebook to modify, sub-license, or even transfer these rights to third parties as needed.

The terms specifically state:

When you share, post or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights on or in connection with our Products, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free and worldwide licence to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings).

You privacy settings seem to be the only thing that may prevent Facebook from using your posts on a public platform.

3 Facebook Can Use Your Data to Train Its AI

Most users don’t realize that by signing up, they've allowed Facebook to use public posts to train their artificial intelligence models. This means that your interactions, preferences, and publicly posted content can be analyzed to improve Facebook’s AI capabilities, like facial recognition and content recommendation systems.

This data usage is a standard part of Facebook’s terms, allowing the platform to leverage user data for both internal AI developments and external partnerships.

By default, you are giving permission for Meta to use your data to train their generative AI as well. However, users in certain countries or regions like the EU can opt out as a data source for training AI. Go to Facebook’s Help Center to fill out the form by adding your email address (the one you used to sign up on Facebook) and how your data being used for training AI is impacting you.

If you're not in a country where you can opt out, make sure you change your post visibility settings to Friends Only to prevent them from being used to train AI. Your public comments on pages and groups, however, may still be used for AI training.

4 Deleted Content Isn’t Really Gone

Deleting a post, photo, or video on Facebook doesn’t mean it’s entirely erased. Based on Facebook’s terms of service, when you delete posts, photos, or videos, they may remain in Facebook’s backup systems for up to 90 days, during which they are not accessible to other users but still exist on Facebook's servers. Additionally, content like messages might still be visible to recipients unless they delete it as well.

Some cached versions of photos or posts might also persist for a short period due to caching practices, which can sometimes take days to clear.

Additionally, Facebook's retention policies allow the platform to retain data for specific legal or security reasons and for advertising and analytics. Facebook also states that it can preserve user data beyond the initial 90 days if required by legal obligations or for compliance purposes.

5 Facebook Uses Your Data for Targeted Ads, Beyond Social Media

Facebook leverages user data for targeted ads on and beyond its platform. The platform gathers insights from your likes, shares, and general activities, which it then uses to display ads tailored to your interests.

These ads appear on Facebook and partner websites across the internet. Your data helps Facebook’s ad partners reach you on various platforms, whether it’s an e-commerce site or a news outlet.

By using Facebook, you’re giving away significant control over your content and data. Reviewing Facebook’s terms and privacy settings regularly can help manage what you share and how Facebook can use it. It’s worth noting that while these practices are common across many social media platforms, Facebook’s vast reach and deep data collection capabilities make these policies particularly impactful.