A chain message is making the rounds online, claiming that “60 Minutes” warned Facebook users about the platform using their data unless they share a specific message to the platform.
The message that people are sharing says:
“According to the show 60 Minutes: Just in case you missed it: a lawyer advised us to post this. The violation of privacy can be punished by law NOTE: Facebook Meta is now a public entity. Every member must post a note like this. If you do not publish a statement at least once, it will be technically understood that you are allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in your profile status updates. I HEREBY DECLARE THAT I DO NOT GIVE MY PERMISSION FOR FACEBOOK OR META TO USE ANY OF MY PERSONAL DATA. DO NOT USE ANY OF MY PERSONAL DATA.”
Multiple VERIFY readers, including Greg, reached out to ask if sharing the message would actually protect their data.
THE QUESTION
Can posting a message on Facebook stop the company from using your data and posts?
THE SOURCES
- Facebook’s Terms of Service
- Nolo, an online legal guide
THE ANSWER
No, posting a message on Facebook cannot stop the company from using your data and posts.
WHAT WE FOUND
Posts that claim “60 Minutes” told Facebook users to share a specific message to their Facebook feed to prevent the company from using their data are false. Posts cannot protect your data because Facebook’s terms of service, which people automatically agree to by using the platform, gives the company permission to use it.
These posts are examples of copypasta, which is internet slang for a block of text that gets copied and pasted repeatedly. Similar false posts have circulated for years.
VERIFY previously reported that posting a similar copypasta on Instagram wouldn’t stop Meta from using people’s content to train its AI. A lot of the language used in those posts are similar to the current round of chain messages circulating.
For example, both posts claim a lawyer or an attorney instructed them to share the message, and both claim the message should be shared because “Meta is now a public entity.”
The way social media networks use your data is determined by the terms of service you agree to when you use or make an account on its website, and to some degree, the options you select on your account’s privacy settings – not a message shared on your page.
VERIFY also did a search of “60 Minutes” social media pages and online articles and did not find any evidence of the show notifying users to share the message.
“Currently, posted privacy policies — rather than specific federal or state laws — typically determine your privacy rights concerning the personal data that Internet-based companies collect on you,” said attorney Amy Loftsgordon in a blog post on Nolo, an online legal guide. “Facebook, for instance, has a privacy policy stating what it can and can’t do with your information. To use the site, you have to agree to the terms of the privacy policy.”There are no terms or policies from Facebook that say Meta will change how it uses your content if you post a message to your profile. That means no chain message has the power to stop Facebook from using your posts and photos.
The terms of service for Facebook spells out that users give the company permission to use content they create and share on the platform, as well as use their name and profile picture.
“When you share, post or upload content,” such as photos or videos, to Instagram and Facebook, you grant the company a license to “host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and creative derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings),” the terms of service for Facebook says.
According to Facebook’s terms, data collected is typically used to improve its services and provide targeted ads.
VERIFY digital journalist Emery Winter contributed to this report.