Need Computer Help?

336.260.0664

Facebook and 3rd party apps

I’m sure everyone has heard all of the hoopla over the latest Facebook privacy concerns.  The short version of the story is that a third party personality quiz app on Facebook was used to harvest data about individuals who opted to take it.  Not only was the data harvested for the ones who took it voluntarily but the Facebook policy at the time also gave access to Facebook data for friends of those individuals.  This resulted in millions of individuals having their Facebook data handed over to a firm called Cambridge Analytica which used it for political purposes.

This particular policy of handing over information of friends was already changed by Facebook a couple of years ago, so apps today cannot do the same thing.  However it’s still a good idea to understand what you can do right now to help control your data.  First and most importantly, just avoid putting any information on Facebook that you really care about because once you do it becomes hard to control.  Check your privacy settings by logging into Facebook and clicking on the down arrow at the top right.  Click on “settings” in the drop down menu or simply go to https://facebook.com/settings.  On the left had side of the screen click on “Apps”.  You can see all of the apps that you have given access to you Facebook profile.  Remove any or all that you don’t want.  You can also disable all outside apps, websites, and plugins from being able to connect in the future by editing your preference under the “Apps, Websites and Plugins” setting on this page.  Under this setting is another setting that controls what Apps that others use can see on your profile.  This can be edited to disallow categories of information available to these apps.