I used to love the fact that people posted facts or funny articles
on Facebook, but of recent, its been taken over by a post
everyone seems to be uploading.. Some random post that reads a
little like this..
“Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from tomorrow.
Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed.
It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than
sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook’s
privacy policy.”
It looked like bullshit.. It smelt like bullshit..
But hey! Let’s not judge it until we do our research..
So, I went online. The Guardian, Forbes, Snopes, all the sites that
would normally report stuff like this..

Here’s what we know..
1) This isn’t the first time this hoax is showing up. In 2012, a
similar message circulated which Facebook responded to with..
“There is a rumor circulating that Facebook is making a change
related to ownership of users’ information or the content they
post to this site.
This is false. Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the
content and information they post as stated in our terms and
conditions. They control how that content and information is
shared. That is our policy and it has always been. Click here to
learn more : http://www.facebook.com/policies
2) What exactly is Public?
In 2012, Facebook became a publicly traded company. This
means they started selling stocks on the open market and has
nothing to do with the privacy or public nature of your account..
Public in that sense refers to shares and not accounts
What about Public accounts?
However, Yes! There is a problem with Public accounts. But that
problem isn’t Facebook’s. It’s ours.
When a post is made, you have different privacy settings,
ranging from Public to Only friends to only me.
Most of us keep our posts on Public.
What that means is that when ANY FACEBOOK USER uses his
searchbar to search for a related post, your post will come up as
well.
Any Facebook user whether he’s friends with you or not can see
your posts. That’s what public means and has always meant.

What about the Facebook public thingy?
This is where it gets a little complicated.
No! Facebook doesn’t own your posts.
However, Yes! Facebook has rights to use your posts provided
your privacy and application settings are set to Public.
Yes! When you agree to the Facebook terms and conditions, you
agreed to that.
It is “a non-exclusive”, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free,
worldwide license to use any content that you post on or in
connection with Facebook ”
It goes further, ” This license ends when you delete your IP
content or when you delete your account unless your content has
been shared with others and they have not deleted it”
So, No, Facebook cannot use your deleted posts unless someone
else has shared it. Then Facebook can use it through the person’s
page.
No. You cannot undo this by typing some random things on your
page. It doesn’t work that way. It has never worked that way.
The terms and conditions is a legal contract between you and
Facebook. Some random pseudo-legal post on your timeline
won’t negate that.
Yes! You can stop Facebook from using your content by setting it
to only friends in the private section.

Facebook can use all your content set to public but what does “use”
actually mean?
No. Facebook cannot sell your posts or pictures. It has and will
always be your intellectual property. A right to use is different
from a right to sell..
So, what does a right to “use” mean?
It means a right to use the content (most especially pictures and
videos set to public) in advertising campaigns or to sub-license
the content to another company if need be..
So, is there anything we can do about this?
1) Please stop putting up pseudo legal documents on Facebook
that do nothing but take up space.
2) You could decline to set up a Facebook account. If you’re here,
it’s probably a little too late for that.
3) You could lobby for Facebook to amend its policies through its
Facebook Site Governance section. Just Google it and follow.
Instagram users successfully lobbied and got Facebook to restrict
its use of Instagram photos for advertising.
Maybe if enough Facebook users lodge a complaint or sign a
petition, they will change their terms and conditions..
4) You could cancel your Facebook account. Then, the only thing
Facebook will have access to are contents of yours which your
friends shared provided they still have active accounts.
So, please, can we now go back to posting about fun stuff instead
of pseudo-legal psycho babble..
And please, instead of cluttering our timelines, use your privacy
settings. That’s what Facebook put them there for..
Have a lovely day…

https://thefortunetellers./2016/07/01/facebooks-privacy-settings-myth-or-fact/?preview=true