Facebook Hoax Resurfaces…..Again

Over the past few days I'm sure everyone's news feed on their personal Facebook pages has been literally clogged with people copying and pasting a long, drawn out statement regarding their privacy policies. Well bad news people. It was a hoax when it surfaced several years ago and it is still a hoax today.

Apparently, someone got a wild hair up their....you know what...that Facebook is somehow going to use your pictures, personal information or basically anything on your profile in their marketing. Truth is, Facebook literally has no idea who you are and couldn't care less about your selfies or what you had for lunch.

Here's the truth: Facebook doesn't own your media.

"We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts — when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. "Under our terms you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings."

Brad Shear, a Washington-area attorney and blogger who is an expert on social media, said the message that Facebook users are posting to their walls is "misleading and not true." He said that when you agree to Facebook's terms of use you provide Facebook a "non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any content you post. You do not need to make any declarations about copyright issues since the law already protects you. The privacy declaration in this message is worthless and does not mean anything."

So there you have it. From a lawyer who specializes in social media. IT'S NOT REAL!! There is no need to continually post false, meaningless statements about your privacy....you're already protected. However, if it still bothers you here is some things you can do about it....

1. Don't sign up for Facebook
2. Hire a team of lawyers and bilaterally renegotiate their terms of service.
3. Cancel your Facebook account.

Easy peasy.....now STOP IT!