A new hoax is claiming that Facebook’s privacy policy is set to change early in the New Year, fooling numerous users on the popular social media website.
The hoax is being spread in a short message that many are copying and pasting.
“I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308-11 308-103 and Rome statute),” it reads.
“NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a not like this. If you prefer, you can copy and past this version. If you do not publish this statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE you MUST copy and paste to make this I will leave a comment so it will be easier to copy and paste!!!”
There’s actually no privacy policy change set for Facebook, and the message is just a hoax.
The hoax was also circulated widely back in 2012.
As Gawker pointed out at the time, although the text in the message looks nice and appears to say important things, it’s actually meaningless and doesn’t protect people from anything.
Facebook decided to issue a statement the last time the fake message spread.
“There is a rumor circulating that Facebook is making a change related to ownership of users’ information or the content they post to the site. This is false,” it said.
“Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been. Click here to learn more: www.facebook.com/policies.”
