Using social media comes at the cost of our privacy, and that is because of the companies behind these platforms. In most cases, have to collect data to generate revenue. They either use data to serve ads on behalf of businesses or sell it to others for things like public relations and machine learning.
In July 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a US consumer protection enforcement agency, fined Facebook $5 billion for allowing data collected from its users to be used by Cambridge Analytica. This UK political consulting firm engaged in misleading campaigns.
Over time the demand for data is growing, especially with various artificial intelligence (AI) applications and algorithms. This pushes tech companies to increasingly engage in massive data harvesting despite strict data management regulations adopted worldwide.
When you share photos with family, Facebook collects your biometrics from them. When you tell your friends how delicious the food is at the restaurant you visit, they track your location. Similarly, when you like the pages of your favorite superhero, they know what that says about your personality.
Indeed, there is little you put on social media that is not helpful information to the tech companies and their clients. Therefore, it is essential to learn how to protect your privacy on social media.
