You and your gal pals took a trip to the beach and uploaded some photos to social media. That really shouldn’t come as a huge shock. So, check them off on your user profile. Facebook, however, has come up with some novel approaches to get you to provide more details about your vacation.

While Facebook will keep track of the travel planning sites you visit, you can remove the data anytime. The company is much more than just a social platform. It’s not just a search engine; it’s an advertising network that tracks your every move, online and off, to serve relevant results.

“The company has faced criticism over its use of user data, including accusations of mishandling data and violating users’ privacy. Therefore, users should weigh the potential benefits and risks before using Facebook and be proactive in protecting their personal information,” says a cybersecurity expert.

The retailer you bought your cream from may be included in the information it obtains from its partners. According to Facebook’s CEO, the social media platform can calculate how many of a user’s friends were physically there at a specific time and place. The site may then create an in-depth profile of each participant.

Ensure the Security of Your Passwords

At the beginning of 2019, it was found that millions of Facebook users’ passwords had been stored in plaintext. Many Facebook accounts were hacked due to carelessness, despite the company’s claim that it has found no proof of data breaches.

You have no say in how Facebook stores your information, which may be vulnerable to the company’s rules. However, the password manager is an excellent tool for protecting your access credentials.

Don’t place your hope in becoming paroled. If a hacker compromises even one of your accounts, they will quickly have complete access to and control over all of them. Your parole officer may develop and retain unique, secure passwords for your Facebook accounts. This precaution can keep your public Facebook and other comments safe in the case of a data compromise.

If you want to keep hackers out of your account, you should ensure your two-factor authentication is up to date. If you’d like to change this, head to the Settings menu, which can be found in the menu that slides out from the main menu immediately below the “Security & Login” one.

Turn Off Any And All Supplementary Programs

Last year, a whistleblower working for the UK political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica revealed the company’s illegal exploitation of Facebook data. This event exposed how freely Facebook has been giving out the user information.

Facebook’s privacy settings were changed in response to the backlash to reduce the amount of information accessible by third-party apps. Therefore, if you haven’t updated your preferences in a while, now would be a good time to do so.

To utilize this function, go to the “Settings” page and select the “Apps and Websites” link on the left. Here you may adjust the permissions other applications have to access your data. The websites and applications that have misused your Facebook credentials are listed at the top of the current page.

In the next section, you’ll find the option to control who may see your Facebook profile. Explore the “Preferences” menu and choose the “Apps, websites, and games” submenu. To show off your editing skills, click the “Edit” button.

Be Selective About Whom You Let Into Your Life

Over the next five years, we may all be virtual strangers in our homes and on social media.

Don’t assume that everyone on your friend list will like your post. Facebook’s “circles” feature makes it easy to divide your friend base into manageable subsets. After publishing a post, you may restrict access to it by selecting specific couples.

Depending on the size of your friend circle, it might take a while to categorize everyone manually. Once you’ve settled on a core group of friends, keeping a tight rein on them is essential.

Turn off the Current Location

You have some say over the information Facebook may collect about the people around you, whether they’re friends, coworkers, or strangers on the subway. Before anything else, turn off the app’s access to your location data. But alas, that won’t fly. A website can infer your location from your IP address. VPNs are highly recommended for protecting your privacy online.

When you link up to a service like a website or an app, your data travels to its final destination via an encrypted tunnel established within a virtual private network (VPN). Using a virtual private network (VPN), you may make it look like you’re in London even if you’re in Florida.

Turn off Face Recognition Capability

It’s unnerving that Facebook keeps many videos of your face from varying perspectives.

Facebook users’ personal information includes, but is not limited to, their birthdays, full names, lists of friends and family members, educational background, and current and previous residences. Users that do so expose themselves to potential deception, such as social engineering. Make sure that no one else can access these documents by erasing or restricting their access.

Possible assistance might be gained from demonstrations of facial recognition technologies. By going to Settings > Privacy > Face Recognition > Edit > No, you may prevent Facebook from using your photo for facial recognition.

Conclusiveness

By using Facebook, you place yourself in a potentially dangerous situation. However, with these adaptable safeguards, your account should be protected from most assaults.

However, alternative technical school giants like Google and lesser-known ad networks still acquire personally-identifiable information about you while you browse the web.

If you’ve decided the risks to your personal information on Facebook are too great, you may delete your account entirely by following these steps.