New privacy issue on Facebook. This time, the largest social network seems to be “getting its hands” on its members’ mobile phone numbers, which are provided exclusively for two-factor authentication, and not for targeted advertising.
Of course, those of you who have given your number to Facebook thought it would only be used for two-factor authentication. Wrong. Facebook uses numbers to connect you with other people and target everyone with online ads.
For example, if someone you know gives their number to Facebook and allows the Facebook app to access their smartphone contacts, the app reads all of their contacts (do you think it doesn't store them?). This way, it can connect you with some people, and it will continue to keep you connected even if there is a break in your relationship.
Of course, Facebook doesn't stop at promoting targeted ads, but it also gives your number to the page's search function.
The Facebook phone number slogging outbreak was sparked on Friday by Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge, who publicly criticized Mark Zuckerberg's data collection function and the search for users by phone number provided to Facebook for the sole purpose of account security.
“For years Facebook claimed that adding a phone number was for 2FA and security only,” he said on Twitter. “Now they find you in searches and there’s no way to turn it off.”
Facebook has partially disabled similar phone number searches in the past, preventing someone from searching their profile by their number. Today, Facebook appears to be reusing numbers in searches for some accounts, and WhatsApp is undoubtedly using numbers for searches.
As Facebook explains on a support page, it uses phone numbers for account security, to help your friends find you, and for some potential account recovery.
It does not report that it uses phone numbers for advertising. Researchers from Princeton University and Northeastern University in the US last year examined how Facebook uses personally identifiable information provided by users.
They found (PDF) “that phone numbers and email addresses added as profile features for security reasons, such as two-factor authentication, numbers provided to the Facebook Messenger app for messaging purposes, and numbers included in users’ contacts are used by Facebook to allow advertisers to target users.”
According to Alex Stamos, Facebook's former head of security, the social network planned to separate phone numbers used for 2FA from other phone numbers provided for other purposes, but that is no longer the case.
_______________
