Opinion: Facebook spam is worse than you think

1) Ban Facebook and other “social media” commercial surveillance companies from storing ANY PII from under 18’s
2) Oblige them to provide details on request to any users showing who their data has been sold to (‘anonymised’ or not)
3) Failure in ‘anonymisation’ of data to be subject to exemplary fines (where it can be shown that such data is easily traced back to individuals by simple cross referencing or other basic analysis)
4) Put a “health warning” on the login page advising on the dangers of using their ‘service’

Until their profits are affected by privacy legislation, these companies will continue to push the boundaries of acceptability; they routinely risk public welfare with continous development and commercialisation of intrusive data gathering, it’s time to regulate them more like the drug industry.

Perhaps it is about time for some statutory regulation of social media sites.

Gave up on Facebook years ago. Don’t understand why people complain of abuse. Why are they there at all? Facebook loves excess, fanatics, bullies, cowards, fascists, revolutionaries, gun-toting maniacs and fools who make the platform rich by clicking on its booby-trapped links. Despite the genuine good the platform pretends to achieve it remains an open sewer to be avoided at all costs.

I am glad of the opportunity to share this on my Facebook timeline as I have been trying educate some of my friends who continually do not listen to my advice on this subject. Thanks.

Can’t understand why you would want to support and use it. It is too clever by half at joining the dots up with people you even only vaguely know. Big brother stuff. Technically, it’s also very very badly designed and not at all intuitive.
My life is private and I keep it that way. If I don’t meet face to face, I phone or zoom my friends/family and use WhatsApp groups for the occasional comment, joke, FYI, short message or photo. Anything more meaty gets put in an email (previously known as a letter). Even your best friends aren’t really interested in seeing innumerable photos of you and your family/pets or seeing pictures of the meal you are about to eat or the shoes you just bought. When are people going to figure out their lives are largely boring in the eyes of others?
Facebook is a time-waster and mostly for people who have got nothing better to do. Oh, and for companies who want to sell you something or convince you how wonderful their brand is.
As for Twitter – don’t get me started on that. Mostly a place for people who like the sound of their own voices. ………….. (I’ll allow the likes of Marcus Rashford as an exception.)
I never usually waste my time commenting like this but I was compelled to say something about Facebook and Twitter. I detest them so much. I’m proud to say that if you google me I don’t exist. When I die I will cease to be, rather like the ex-parrot.

Nobody says that you have to provide your actual date of birth or mother’s maiden name. I tend to be truthful to banks and building societies but friends would be surprised to see how old / young I claim to be elsewhere, and how many mothers I seem to have had.
I also use a VPN and, as a Luddite, don’t have a smartphone and am not on any social media. I therefore get very few dubious emails (and have been known to delete dodgy-looking ones that appear to be from friends before using my own contact details to contact the friend and ask if it was real).

I think that facebook is largely redundant, now that we can keep in touch with loved ones via WhatsApp. We can thus exclude pond life.

It has been quite some time since I have lost my interest in Facebook but still have an account to keep the contact with friends and family far away. The fact that the terms and conditions whenever I opened my account back ten years ago, were very badly exposed and since then I have had various terms and conditions updates sent by Facebook to agree to. There perhaps should have been more done to protect users and also a clearer understanding when agreeing to their terms and conditions at the intial moment of signing up an account. The technology travelled a lot quicker that the legal side of things.
I wouldn’t call it social media, in fact it is anti social media!

Social Media has become septic, minority groups and personal agendas are now given a voice that they previously did not have, despite the views of the majority, this will get worse before it gets better and social media is now not the place to share genuine goodwill and experiences with friends and colleagues; this will simply be taken advantage of and unfortunately destroys the original purpose of these platforms

Kate this is an excellent article, and I will be adding to the clutter by sharing your article…. it makes a change from pets first names etc.