Facebook has been in the news recently, and not for a good reason.
The New York Times and The Guardian broke the story that Cambridge Analytica “misused” the data of around 50 million Facebook users.
There might not be a whole lot you or I can do to prevent this type of data misuse, but you should take this as a tap on the shoulder to check who is accessing your Facebook data.
Over the years you’ve likely given plenty of apps, sites and companies permission to access your Facebook data.
Heck, I thought I was careful about my data settings, but when I checked my app list, there were more than 80 instances in which I willingly shared my Facebook data with third parties.
Some I remembered, like Waze, Amazon and Instagram, but most of them I didn’t.
I don’t recall giving Ultimate Funjetter Voting permission to see my Facebook public profile and friends list, but there it was. I’m sure whatever I signed up for at the time was important (probably not), but that app was still accessing my data.
So how can you check on what sources are sharing your Facebook data?
Open your browser to your Facebook page and click on the small black triangle in the upper right side of the blue bar at the top of the page. Choose Settings from the menu and then choose Apps from the column on the left.
You’ll see a list of apps and pages you’ve logged into with your Facebook account. Look over the list and you’ll probably be amazed, as I was. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of items you’d like to delete.
Click on an entry, like one of mine called Dow Jones, which must have been something financial. I’m sure the people at Dow Jones are doing a great job, but I don’t remember why I wanted to share my Facebook data with them, so I’d like to stop.
Click on the entry to open it and you’ll see a good amount of information about what the connection is actually sharing.
You can also see a link to contact the developer of the app to ask them to delete any information they have stored. I’m not sure you’ll get real feedback when you ask all these app developers to remove your specific data, but it’s worth a try.
I’ll be happy to just stop sharing my data with them.
You should also look at the other options below the app list, which have to do with enabling a feature called Platform, the part of Facebook that lets you log into those other places with your Facebook credentials. I completely disabled it.
Also, there is a button there called Apps Others Use that lets you see what types of data about you others might be able to take with them just because they are your friend on Facebook.
I disabled all of the options under Apps Others Use.
If you don’t have access to a computer, you can also see this data on your phone or tablet.
On the mobile app on the bottom right, touch the three horizontal lines and then scroll down to the bottom to touch Settings, then Account Settings. Scroll down and select Apps, and you’ll see the list.
This won’t keep your data safe. I’m not sure we can count on much data safety on social media. But it will remind you of the vast reach of the data you share and give you at least a little control over whom you share it with.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Jim Rossman writes for The Dallas Morning News. He may be reached at jrossman@dallasnews.com.
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