Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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And, the company hasn’t explained why a number of users who have deleted their accounts long before 2018 have seen their phone numbers turn up in this database.
Facebook has been collecting users’ phone numbers for a decade, initially claiming that it was part of the platform’s security protocols. But in reality, Facebook was simply using that data to help it sell more ads and target more users — a breach of users’ trust that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided was worth a $5 billion fine in 2019.
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But maybe everyone whose number is listed in the leaked database should follow Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s lead: Zuckerberg uses the highly secure messaging app Signal, which isn’t owned by Facebook.