Don’t fall for it: Facebook hoax is circulating again | CNN Business
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Highlights of the story
A similar Facebook hoax has been circulating for years
Nothing you post to your News Feed changes your legal status on Facebook
CNN
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Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
Your Facebook News Feed says you must post a legal notice or you’ll lose copyright control of your images and other content you share with your circle of family and friends.
Or maybe Facebook will charge you to keep your profile private.
It’s a hoax, folks, and people are falling in love all over again. Check your news feed, it’s probably in there somewhere.
Here’s a part of one of the versions coming out.
“Now it’s official! It has been published in the media. Facebook just released the price of entry: $5.99 to keep your status subscription “private.” If you paste this message on your page it will be offered for free (paste not share) otherwise all your posts can be made public. Even deleted messages or disallowed photos. After all, a simple copy and paste costs nothing.”
Say what you will, but this little social media hoax seems to hit all the right buttons for those who are concerned about privacy and fear the prying eyes of Big Brother.
This is at least his third round.
The last major outbreak was in January. There was another in 2012. And the Internet rumor site Snopes.com documents another variation dating back to 2009.
Facebook has denied the rumors along the way and did it again on Monday, playing off NASA’s legitimate news of the day.
“While there may be water on Mars, don’t believe everything you read on the Internet today. Facebook is free and always will be,” the company said. “And copying and pasting a legal notice is just a hoax. Be safe out there, earthlings!”
Facebook also commented on the hoax in a 2012 post: “There is a rumor circulating that Facebook is making a change related to the ownership of user information or the content they post on the site. This is false. Anyone who use Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as set out in our terms.”
Still not satisfied?
Here’s the language of Facebook’s actual terms of service — it’s in the section you must agree to, but never read, when you sign up.
“You own all the content and information you post on Facebook and can control how it’s shared through your privacy and app settings.”
Really, it’s pretty clear, but we’ll be back in a few months to write another story when it rolls around again.
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