Digital Indian Gov

Back in 2015, Facebook stopped third-party app developers from accessing your friends' data. As evidenced from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that kind of shady behaviour has resulted in quite the privacy nightmare, but according to a new report, phone and tablet manufacturers apparently had access to that data too.
The New York Times reported the social media giant had data sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers, including Apple, Amazon, Blackberry and Samsung, with many of these agreements still continuing.The New York Times reported the social media giant had data sharing partnerships with at least 60 device makers, including Apple, Amazon, Blackberry and Samsung, with many of these agreements still continuing. These partnerships allowed for Facebook features to be integrated into phones — a.k.a device-integrated APIs — allowing Blackberry users to call their Facebook friends, for instance.
Such integrations were perhaps necessary at a time when smartphones didn't have adequate specifications to run Facebook apps. According to the Times, Facebook didn't treat these device makers as a third-party, allowing these manufacturers to access user data without their consent. Furthermore, reportedly some manufacturers could retrieve a user's friends' data, even if they believe they opted to not share their information with outsiders. Since April, Facebook has worked to end these partnerships with device makers.
Reportedly some manufacturers could retrieve user's friends' data, even if they believe they opted to not share their information. "It’s like having door locks installed, only to find out that the locksmith also gave keys to all of his friends so they can come in and rifle through your stuff without having to ask you for permission," Ashkan Soltani, the former Federal Trade Commission chief technologist who is now a research and privacy consultant, told the newspaper. These revelations potentially contravene a settlement Facebook made with the FTC in 2011, in which the company was required to ensure it obtained consent from users if their data was shared beyond their chosen privacy settings.
Facebook responded to the Times report by stating the company disagreed with the issues the newspaper raised with these device-integrated APIs, saying it controlled these agreements "tightly from the get-go," and that it was different to what had happened with Cambridge Analytica. "These partners signed agreements that prevented people’s Facebook information from being used for any other purpose than to recreate Facebook-like experiences," Ime Archibong, Facebook's VP of product partnerships, said in a blog post.
"Partners could not integrate the user’s Facebook features with their devices without the user’s permission. And our partnership and engineering teams approved the Facebook experiences these companies built. "Contrary to claims by the New York Times, friends’ information, like photos, was only accessible on devices when people made a decision to share their information with those friends. We are not aware of any abuse by these companies." Apple and Samsung have been contacted for comment.

Since its release in 2004, Facebook has fundamentally altered the landscape of the internet. What was once a simple online hub for meeting and talking with friends has now become one of the world’s largest companies with over 2.2 billion individual users! That means that today’s marketing students have a new avenue that offers more possibility than any before. With a little bit of ingenuity and a few minutes, you — and your audience — will experience a surge. Looking to do more on Facebook than just post about your day? Learning how to make money on Facebook is entirely possible. Here are a few quick ways to make money on Facebook.
Sell Old Goods on Facebook Marketplace Craiglist is a great way to make a quick buck and clear your room of any old or outdated goods. Unfortunately, it’s also accumulated a bit of a reputation. Facebook, understanding that they had a unique opportunity, decided to stake a claim in the user-to-user marketplace with its own offering, Facebook Marketplace. On Marketplace, users can sell virtually anything and everything for a price they set. And since Marketplace uses geolocation, you won’t have to travel far to offload your goods.
Hone Your Social Media Management Skills If you’re a marketing student, (see page to find a great online MBA program) you’re likely learning a ton of marketable skills in school. However, learning those skills and putting them into practice are two very different matters. Get a head start on your career by partnering with local businesses to manage their social media profiles. It has the potential to be a mutually beneficial experience. The local business gets exposure and a bigger audience, and you have a chance to make some money while padding your resume. Should you enjoy your experience as a social media manager, you may want to look into full-time career options. Per year, the average social media manager makes between $34,432 and $56,571. Who knew you could make money on Facebook just by using the site?
Experiment With Affiliate Marketing If you’ve spent any time learning about digital marketing, you’ve probably at least heard the phrase ‘affiliate marketing’ or ‘influencer marketing‘ in passing. It’s a relatively new phenomenon that’s taken the web by storm, but it’s easily one of the most effective methods to make money on Facebook. Bloggers and vloggers get paid just to talk about products they like! So how does it work? Typically, a business will reach out to an influencer with a sizable audience. In your case, you may need to reach out first, but the idea is the same. Then, once the details of the partnership are laid out, the influencer creates an original ad discussing the product or service in question. It may seem too good to be true, but influencer marketing is currently one of the biggest trends in the marketing world.
Final Thoughts on How to Make Money on Facebook You may think of scrolling through Facebook as a waste of time, but figuring out how to make money on Facebook is quite simple! Looking for more great ways to make some fast cash? Be sure to check out our Shoeintology page to learn the basic tenets of modern day marketing.

Facebook just announced that it is removing the Trending section from the website. The company clarified that the reason it is removing this section from your profile is “to make way for future news experiences on Facebook”. The company initially launched the Trending section back in 2014 to help its users discover news that was popular across the website. Alex Hardiman, the head of News Products at Facebook added that this feature was available in five countries and the total number of engagement only accounted to less than 1.5 percent of clicks for publishers.
Hardiman went on to add that Facebook found out that its Trending section was becoming less and less useful with time. To clear the way, the company added that it will remove the section from the website next week. The removal is not limited to the section but it extends to any third-party partner integration or products that are using its Trends API. The research indicated that an increasing number of people are consuming news on mobile through news videos. Hardiman added that the company is “exploring new ways” to ensure that its users are informed about “breaking news that matters to them” while ensuring that the news they see on the platform comes “from trustworthy and quality sources”. Facebook is testing a “Breaking News” label with 80 publishers across North and South America, India, Europe, and Australia. This allows news publishers to put a “breaking news” indicator on their posts in the news feed along with “breaking news” notifications.
It is also working on a new section “Today In” where the social media giant will let its users catch up with all the breaking news as it happens along with important topics from local publishers for their city. The section will also include posts done by local officials and organizations. Last but not the least, Facebook will have a dedicated section Facebook “Watch” in the US. Users on the platform can visit this section to watch the live coverage, weekly deep dives and daily news briefings. We think that it is about time that Facebook took down its Trending section. The reason for this is because Trending section has been the center of a number of controversies with fake news topping the chart. Facebook struggled in past with how to moderate the section between the option to leave it governed by human editors or let its algorithms take care of the section.

Facebook has announced some changes which have been incorporated to improve its two-factor authentication process, making the account (and the data) of users even more secure than before. The social media giant’s product manager, Scott Dickens shared details in a blog post. Dickens said that Facebook has improved its two-factor authentication in two ways. Facebook says it has made it easier for users to enable two-factor authentication ‘with a streamlined setup flow that guides you through the process.’ Secondly, the social media tech firm is now giving users more ways in which they can secure their account with a second factor.
This is for those who don’t want to (or don’t have) a phone number but can still enable 2FA. Until now, Facebook asked users to submit their phone numbers to get a six-digit code as a text message. If you still haven’t turned on two-factor authentication for your Facebook account, it can be done by clicking on facebook.com/settings, followed by clicking on the ‘Security and Login’ tab. Facebook has been facing the heat since earlier this year for sharing data of millions of users with a third-party website without consent.
As an aftermath, the firm recently announced a change in the management, as reported by Recode. As a part of the team shakeup, Facebook executive Javier Olivan will be looking over the "central product services" division that also includes handling security and ads. The company even suspended over 200 apps from its website as a part of the first stage of review into apps that have access to large quantities of data. On the sidelines it is also keeping its focus on bringing new features on the platform. One of the recent additions were ability to save photos and videos, post voice notes and archive Stories to view and re-share them later. All these are India-first features.

In the developers F8 conference which was conducted by Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg highlighted some of the new features which the company was going to implement in the coming days. A part of that initiative, Facebook is releasing a new update for WhatsApp iOS which will bring the ability to stream Instagram and Facebook videos within the application just like it used to for YouTube. This new functionality is going to be part of the update 2.18.51. Previously whenever an Instagram video link or a Facebook video link was shared on WhatsApp, it used to open in the respective applications.
A feature was rolled out before that enabled the users to watch YouTube videos inside the app only, this new update for the iOS users will allow the users to do the same with Instagram and Facebook videos. Even though the feature has not been noticed by the users, the news suggests that it shouldn’t be long and that the users will be able to update to this version of WhatsApp in the coming weeks. These changes were highlighted in the WhatsApp changelog which also went onto illustrate that the feature would also come with the PiP (Picture in picture mode) support which will allow the users to navigate within the application, chat with other users and go on with their work while the video will continue playing in a video bubble over the application. Also, users will be able to slide the video bubble anywhere on the app screen. The changelog also highlighted that just like the YouTube PiP video bubble, this new update will also have the play/pause, close and full-screen buttons.
Along with this new impending update, there were several other features announced by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg among them he also mentioned the group video calling feature which would soon be seen on the WhatsApp app. Using this feature, users will be able to talk to four people at once in split-screen mode. The support for third-party stickers was also announced. He also went onto share some statistics about WhatsApp saying that over 450 million people are using the feature. The latest app by WhatsApp which is based on businesses and comes with the name of WhatsApp Business has already amassed 3 million users worldwide. WhatsApp is also working on an iOS version of WhatsApp Business app.

Facebook on Wednesday concluded its F8 Developer Conference. This year seems to be a bitter one for Facebook especially after the Cambridge Analytica scandal which brought a lot of backlash towards Facebook’s way of handling users’ data and their privacy. The developer conference witnessed CEO’s words about why and how developers should keep developing for the platform. To encourage more and more development on Facebook and to provide incentives to these developers, the company has launched a lot of updates to the Facebook Core application including Oculus, Instagram and WhatsApp also. Below are some important and very interesting updates which Facebook had revealed during the conference.
Facebook Dating Facebook has previously rolled out updates which very closely resemble other applications. While the Facebook Marketplace was a solid take towards Craigslist, the story feature took a jab at Snapchat. Now it seems as if Facebook is after Tinder. In the conference, Facebook revealed its plans about launching a dating feature on the core application. This feature would allow users to see potential matches on a first name basis, in the groups or in the events they are interested in attending. People can also use this feature to initiate a conversation which will be separate from the Messenger application. Although, there wasn’t a declaration from the company about a specific date when the feature would be launched. This announcement surely caused the stock prices of other dating companies to slip. The parent company of Tinder and OkCupid, Match Group, saw a decline of 20 percent on their stock price from $46.22 to $36.12.
Messenger Facebook admitted in the conference that they have let the Messenger application become loaded with unnecessary features and have allowed it get overhauled by too much information, which is definitely not a good direction for the application. According to Messenger VP of Product, David Marcus, the application will go through a revamp which will simplify a lot of things on the platform and will also introduce a dark mode.
Instagram Stories Many users would agree on the fact that these days Instagram Stories get a lot more attention and engagement when compared to the posts. Very soon, Facebook is planning to launch AR filters which will allow brands and influencers to push their own filters instead of the company pushing it for them. There are also going to be third-party integration on the stories, where people will be able to provide a deep link while listening to a song on Spotify or while importing a GoPro footage. Instagram will also witness a new update which will add the video calling functionality along with group conferencing as well.
WhatsApp In the keynote, there was also an official brief thank you speech for the WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, given his recent departure from the company. Then the discussion went on to present stats about the WhatsApp application. Facebook revealed that 450 million users share a story on WhatsApp daily and 65 billion messages are sent on WhatsApp every day. Further, it was revealed that Facebook would also launch updates for WhatsApp although they won’t bear any major alteration or upgrade to the app. Some of the new features will be group video conference and stickers. However, there were somethings which did not go unnoticed during the developers conference which was the fact that Mark Zuckerberg did not mention Cambridge Analytica’s Aleksandr Kogan not even once. Also, the CEO light heartedly spoke about his testimony in the conference relating to the same data leak scandal. Moreover, he also added that app reviews were on and up again after a brief period of the hold which was done to investigate potential bad actors.

If one thought that the Cambridge Analytica data scandal could dull Facebook’s sparkle then they couldn’t have been more wrong. CEO Mark Zuckerberg looked upbeat and didn’t show any strains from the fallout of the whole privacy scandal. The social media giant rolled out all big guns at day one of its F8 annual conference. Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger – all key weapons in its arsenal – are about to get better. So here are all the important announcements Facebook made at day one of F8:
Facebook Dating: Tinder gets its 'biggest rival' In what’s a direct challenge to Tinder, Facebook is set to get a new Dating feature in its app. It’s mostly like Tinder but with the additional feature of Facebook events. So, for instance you are at a social event, you will be easily able to ‘connect’ with others. Don’t chuckle but Mark Zuckerberg actually said that Facebook’s Dating feature “isn’t for hookups but for building real, long-term relationships.”
Messenger: Gets new design, translation feature Facebook Messenger is all set to get a revamp in terms of look and functionality. In order to boost its presence with businesses, a new Customer Chat plug-in will be integrated in their websites. A nifty translation feature is also being added to the Messenger app.
Instagram: Gets new AR features Users will now be able to upload footage directly from the GoPro app to Instagram. Spotify playlists can also be shared in Instagram stories now. In addition to this, AR features will be available in the app now along with a redesigned Explore tab for users to tap into new content.
WhatsApp:WhatsApp: New stickers, group video call Facebook revealed that over 450 million users share a story on the instant messaging app daily. The Stories feature is getting better and additional features like Stickers and group video calls will be introduced in WhatsApp.
Privacy: This was bound to get better after you-know-what. Now, Facebook will give users an option to delete their browsing history from social media. Zuckerberg also reiterated the company’s commitment to fight fake news and controlling fake accounts. Let’s see how this pans out.

Facebook is introducing a new 'Clear History' feature that co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has likened to the controls offered by Web browsers, but added that the Facebook experience for those who use this new feature "won't be as good". "In your web browser, you have a simple way to clear your cookies and history," Zuckerberg said in a post announcing the new feature ahead of the F8 developers' conference on Tuesday. "We're building a version of this for Facebook too.
It will be a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook -- what you've clicked on, websites you've visited, and so on," he added. Zuckerberg said to begin with, Facebook will let users review the information the social network sees from websites and apps that use Facebook's ads and analytics tools. "Once we roll out this update, you'll be able to see information about the apps and websites you've interacted with, and you'll be able to clear this information from your account. You'll even be able to turn off having this information stored with your account," Zuckerberg added.
However, he had a word of warning that if you use the feature, your overall Facebook experience might suffer. "To be clear, when you clear your cookies in your browser, it can make parts of your experience worse. You may have to sign back in to every website, and you may have to reconfigure things. The same will be true here. Your Facebook won't be as good while it relearns your preferences," Zuckerberg explained. More details of the Facebook Clear History tool are expected to be revealed at the Facebook developer conference on Tuesday.

Facebook, back in February confirmed that it is testing a way to rate the comments made on public posts. This was said to be down using a Reddit-style upvote and downvote button. As mentioned by TechCrunch, the aim for this feature was to improve the quality of what people see on the platform. Now, the feature seems to be spreading out to more number of users, as spotted by The Next Web.
Several users recently took it to Twitter, posting screenshots about the new upvote and downvote comments feature on Facebook. From what one can see in the images, every comment has an upward arrow and a downward facing arrow. This is in addition to the usual set of reaction emojis that we have for each comment. Clicking on upvote or downvote will show the number count and will push the comment with most number of upvotes, on top.
People can rate it on the basis of how helpful or informative the comments are. Bringing this to the masses indirectly means that Facebook is trying to make millions of users judge the comments on public posts. However, with the growing number of bots, fake accounts and other techniques, it can also be used in a wrong manner, downvoting a legit comment and upvoting those comments what reflects their stance. We are yet to see how Facebook plans to break down on this issue.
In addition, the many may say the downvote button as the new ‘dislike’ button. However, while testing the feature, Facebook cleared its stance to TechCrunch by saying that, “We are not testing a dislike button. We are exploring a feature for people to give us feedback about comments on public page posts.” At that time it was added that when a user taps on the downvote button, Facebook asks the user if the comment is 'Offensive, 'Misleading', and 'Off Topic'.

WhatsApp Business has an active user base of over 3 million people, Mark Zuckerberg has said. The WhatsApp Business user base was revealed in Facebook's Q1 2018 earnings call, Venture Beat reported late on Wednesday It is a standalone app separate from the other version of WhatsApp used by 1.5 billion people, was launched in January for Android users in six countries - India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Britain, and the US. WhatsApp Business competes with services like Apple's Business Chat and RCS messaging for Android and Facebook's own Messenger Platform, chat apps offering features that help businesses connect with customers.
While it is still being rolled out, conversational commerce through things like payments on Messenger will also be important to the social media giant, the report said. "Over the next five years we're focused on building out the business ecosystems around our apps like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger," Zuckerberg said. "I think what you're going to start to see are people interacting with Pages that you follow, Pages on Facebook or Instagram.
"You see content from that Page, and you can click through to a message thread, and then you can either get customer support or complete a transaction or do a follow-on transaction, and that will be very valuable for businesses so we view the payment in that context, not as the goal but as something that's helping the business and the person succeed at having a transaction or doing what they're trying to do," Zuckerberg noted.
ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads WhatsApp Business, available on Google Play, makes it easier for companies to connect with customers, and more convenient for its users to chat with businesses that matter to them. The new app, which is yet to be launched on the App Store, asks for a separate phone number from the one users have for their individual WhatsApp account.

Facebook has removed a number of accounts and pages that advertised and sold social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and alleged credit card numbers of dozens of people, following a report by news website Motherboard. "Posts containing information like social security numbers or credit card information are not allowed on Facebook, and we remove this material when we become aware of it," a Facebook spokesman said on Tuesday. A Google search still pulls up a few public Facebook posts that offer to sell personal details including credit card numbers.
Hackers have advertised databases of private information on the social platform and Motherboard reported on Tuesday that Facebook has held stolen identities and social security numbers for years. The report said at least some of the data in these posts appeared real. The news website said it was able to confirm the first four digits of the social security numbers, names, addresses, and dates of birth for four people whose data appears in a post from July 2014. Shares of Facebook were down 3.9 percent at $159.32 (roughly Rs.10,627).
Last week, Facebook deleted almost 120 private discussion groups of more than 300,000 members, after being alerted by a report from journalist Brian Krebs that the groups flagrantly promoted a host of illicit activities, including spamming, wire fraud, account takeovers, and phony tax refunds. The biggest collection of groups banned were those promoting the sale and use of stolen credit and debit card accounts, and the next largest collection of groups included those facilitating takeovers for online accounts such Amazon, Google, Netflix, and PayPal, the report said. Tech companies are under intense scrutiny about how they protect customer data after Facebook was embroiled in a huge scandal where millions of users' data were improperly accessed by a political consultancy.

Several millions of us send messages each day in the form of texts, images, videos and audio notes. We communicate with others and want them to read out the messages like we do for theirs. But at times, things can be annoying if the read receipts in certain apps are turned on. This means that as soon as you read the sender’s message, he/she comes to know about it and may annoy you to give a feedback or a reply. To prevent those situations, apps have given users the ability to turn the feature off. So here is how you can do it on nearly all the major social networking websites/apps.
Facebook Messenger This is slightly tricky. The app doesn’t really have a proper method to turn off ‘read receipt’ feature but a nifty trick to read messages without letting the sender know. All you need to do is to switch on the ‘Airplane mode’ on your handset and then open the app to read the text. Once read, close the app by swiping it out from the multi-window section so the apps are turned off completely. Now you can switch off the Airplane mode and the sender won’t get to know as the app won’t sync back till you open it again.
WhatsApp This one’s pretty easy. You can simply open the app, head to the Settings page, go to accounts, privacy, and tap on Turn of Receipts. That’s it. This will however, will not let you see if the other person has read your message or not.
Apple iMessage For Apple iMessage users, one can head to the main Settings app and tap on Messages and turn off the read receipts option. You cannot turn on/off this feature for individual Messages chats but for all at once.
Instagram If you want to turn off the read receipts on Instagram, it is not actually possible. However, like
Facebook Messenger you can trick others by switching on the Airplane Mode and looking at the messages, closing it completely from the multi-window section and turning off the Airplane Mode.
Twitter On Twitter, this feature can be turned off for Direct Messages. You need to open the app, tap on your profile picture to open the account settings, under settings tap on Privacy followed by Direct Messages and Turn off Read Receipts. And voila!

Facebook is the latest titan in the tech business to manifest interest in manufacturing its own processors, a practice that’s increasingly popular. Apple was one of the first companies to manufacture its own silicon, and its iPhone chips have been leading the industry since their arrival. Samsung, Google, Huawei, and Xiaomi are other well-known device makers that also develop their own processors for mobile devices. What’s interesting about Facebook’s move is that the social network doesn’t make that many hardware products of its own. The Oculus headset is one exception. Furthermore, Facebook is rumored to debut its own voice-activated smart speakers at some point later this year. That’s why the news that Facebook is forming its own team to design semiconductors is a bit surprising. But the company is indeed going forward with such plans.
According to a Bloomberg report, the social network is looking to hire a manager that would build “end-to-end SoC/ASIC, firmware and driver development organization.” Aside from whatever consumer electronics Facebook may be working on, Oculus included, these custom chips may be used in its own data servers to help out with various artificial intelligence and machine learning features that could be in the works for Facebook’s main product, the social network. The SoC aspect of the announcement, or System-on-Chip covers processors used in mobile devices, like Apple’s A-series chips or Qualcomm’s Snapdragons. ASIC, meanwhile, is short for applications specific integrated circuit, chips that are developed for a special purpose.
For example, some of the popular Bitcoin miners out there have ASIC chips inside, but those computers can’t do anything else than mine for cryptocurrency. It’s possible that Facebook’s ASICs designs may help with its server side of business. What’s certain is that Facebook is looking for people to design chips for the company. Just check the tweet above, from Facebook AI researcher Yann LeCun.

Amid controversies around data abuse through its social network, Facebook has now added expanded its app's use cases by enabling an option for mobile recharges in India. The new option is initially available within the latest Facebook app for Android devices. However, users with an iPhone need to wait for sometime to get a similar experience. The latest development emerges days after Facebook-owned WhatsApp started letting users make peer-to-peer (P2P) payments in the country and counters apps such as Paytm, FreeCharge, and MobiKwik that all offer mobile recharge solutions.
You need to visit Google Play to download the latest Facebook app to get the new mobile recharge option. To access the new option, go to the hamburger icon that sits next to the notifications icon and then tap the Mobile Recharge option. On some versions, the option is available titled Mobile Top-Up. If it's not available on the general screen, you can check the availability of the recharge option by tapping the See More option. Once you've accessed the mobile recharge option, the Facebook app will show you a welcome screen that will specify all the credit and debit cards that you've already added to your Facebook account if you ever purchased any ads in the past. Now, you'll just need to tap Recharge Now button from the welcome screen and then you'll be asked to enter your mobile phone details.
The app automatically selects the operator of the entered number most of the times. But if it's not selecting by its own, you can choose your operator manually by tapping the Select Operator dropdown list. After that, you need to enter a recharge amount. It is worth noting here that the app also has a feature to provide you with all the available packs for your mobile number. You just need to tap Browse Plans button that is available next to amount textbox to view packs for your number. After selecting a particular pack or entering a recharge amount, the Facebook app takes you to the Order Details page from where you can select any of the previously added credit or debit card or add a new one by selecting the Credit or Debit Card option.
Now, there is a Place Order button that you need to press to proceed with the recharge process. The app will ask for an OTP or 3D secure password to accomplish the recharge. Lastly, the app will send you a confirmation receipt after it completes the recharge process. It is worth noting here that the Facebook app is currently accepting payments for mobile recharges only through credit and debit cards. This means you won't be able to recharge your account using net banking, UPI, or any other payments methods. The app also doesn't allow you to integrate any of your mobile wallets. This certainly makes sense as Facebook is apparently aiming to take on existing mobile wallets by adding new payment features to its platform.

Following Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony to the US Congress, the company has shared a blog post by Product Management Director David Baser where it talks about the different ways in which it tracks users on other websites and apps. Although much of this has been reported on before, until now, Facebook has not commented in detail on its activities. However, with the post on Monday, the company revealed that there are lots of different methods it uses to track users, even when they're not logged into Facebook.
The blog post highlights the four main tools that Facebook has at its disposal to track you with even if you're visiting other websites. The most obvious one is of course, using Facebook to log into a website. Both Facebook and Google can be used to log into various websites, and a lot of people choose to do this because it's easier than creating a new password for every site.
However, once you've done this, Facebook is able to track you on the site that you're visiting. But even without this, Facebook has a number of different tools that it can use even when you're not on the social network, in order to track you. For instance, if you see 'Like' and 'Share' buttons on an app or site, that also gives Facebook information about you.
But apart from these kinds of visible indicators, Facebook also offers ads and analytics tools to websites and apps, and even in these cases, Facebook can track you, even if you possibly don’t see any Facebook branding or widgets on the website. As Facebook noted, "when you visit a site or app that uses our services, we receive information even if you’re logged out or don’t have a Facebook account." The post also gives us a look at the kind of data that Facebook is able to collect when you visit a website, or launch an app, which uses one of its services.
To start with, your IP address (think of it as your address on the Internet), your browser, and your operating system are all shared with Facebook. This happens for every site that you visit, or app that you use, which uses any of Facebook's services, from the more visible ones, to the ones that are running under the hood which most users will never know about.
Of course, Facebook is quick to point out that it's not the only one that does this kind of tracking either. Facebook points out, correctly, that when you visit most sites, your data is actually being mined by several companies, every time. Facebook points out: Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn all have similar Like and Share buttons to help people share things on their services. Google has a popular analytics service. And Amazon, Google and Twitter all offer login features.
These companies — and many others — also offer advertising services. In fact, most websites and apps send the same information to multiple companies each time you visit them. So once Facebook - and these other platforms - have your data, how are they using it? Facebook's post explains that it's used to provide Facebook's services - such as the social plugins, or ads - and also to improve security on Facebook, and improving its products and services.
The post also stresses that Facebook doesn't sell people's data, and that there are user controls that can let you opt out of such targeting advertising on or off Facebook. Of course, there's a question mark that has to come in there, because what Facebook does sell is the ability to accurately target users based on the profiles that have been built up to anyone who wants to reach them.

After the recent row over Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, a lot of users have come to know that how vulnerable their personal information was. Users of various social media platforms, especially Facebook, have become aware of what information they want to give out or what not. Soon after this, there have been a lot of eyebrows raised if WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, shares data with the social media platform.
WhatsApp has always been defensive about the data shared by them with Facebook. They have always maintained that “every message is end-to-end encrypted” and said that they use ‘very little data’ with Facebook. However, there are two ways by which you can take the extra step of feeling safe and continue to use the messaging app without being worried about your data being shared with Facebook.
Option 1: If you want to completely disable the app share data with other application, then you need to follow the below-mentioned steps to make your WhatsApp not share your personal information with Facebook. Steps to make WhatsApp not share data with Facebook.
Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your smartphone.
Step 2: Go to Settings. Android users will find it from the top right corner of the app where you will see three vertical dots. iOS users will find it in the bottom right-hand od the app.
Step 3: Once you are in the account section you will need to tap on Account.
Step 4: The last option will be able to see is where you need to tap the check mark to the right of Share my account info.
Step 5: To disable the feature, tap Don’t Share.
Option 2: This step will come in handy when you install the app for the first time. During the installation of the app, you will get an option where you will be asked to ‘Agree’ with the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. However, this the point where you need to tap on ‘read more’.
After you do that, you will need to find the option which needs to be unchecked if you do not want to share your WhatsApp data with Facebook. Once you do that, your account will be safe and your personal information will not be shared with Facebook. Get live Stock Prices from BSE and NSE and latest NAV, portfolio of Mutual Funds, calculate your tax by Income Tax Calculator, know market’s Top Gainers, Top Losers & Best Equity Funds. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Facebook has refreshed its Bookmarks menu to let users navigate, access and make changes to their privacy settings easily. The updates will be rolled out globally over the next two weeks. Users can now access various Facebook settings, including Account Settings, Privacy Shortcuts, News Feed Preferences, Activity Log, Payments Settings and access to Help & Support, with lesser number of mouse clicks.
According to TechCrunch, the changes are focused on centralising a variety of controls that were previously located in other places. As per the makeover, these controls have been moved to the front and the icons have been given a new look. Facebook said the redesign had been in the works for a while. "We've been looking into how to make Bookmarks easier to navigate and more relevant for people for some time," a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.
"We hope this update, similar to the ones we've been making recently, will help people navigate Facebook more easily so they can continue to connect with the people, Pages and Groups they log on to see." The redesign comes at a time when Facebook is embroiled in a widening scandal after reports that British data firm Cambridge Analytica had improperly gathered detailed Facebook information on 87 million users, up from a previous estimate of more than 50 million. CEO Mark Zuckerberg vowed to revamp Facebook and had said the company would ensure that its platform is not misused to influence elections in India and elsewhere.
Facebook had also launched a "Data Abuse Bounty" programme to reward people who report any misuse of data by app developers. This programme would reward people with first-hand knowledge and proof of cases where a Facebook platform app collects and transfers people's data to another party to be sold, stolen or used for scams or political influence.

With the whole controversy around Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data leak still brewing, there is a growing awareness about how much and what kind of data is being shared online. Users who were earlier unaware are now getting a bit more vigilant. Recently, Facebook-owned WhatsApp was too under the scanner for allegedly sharing information with its parent company.
WhatsApp responded to this by saying that it collects "very little data" of its users and "every message is end-to-end encrypted." But there is a way for users to choose not to share their account information with Facebook. This shared information is said to improve Facebook ads and products experiences. Here are two ways to stop sharing your WhatsApp information with Facebook:
Option 1 : As soon as you download WhatsApp, you will be asked to 'Agree' to accept their updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. But before you do, tap Agree and then tap on 'read more.' Once you do that, you will find a control at the bottom of the screen, which you can uncheck if you do not want your account information shared with Facebook.
Option 2 : This option comes in the picture if you have already agreed to WhatsApp's terms and policies but now want to change that.
But this works only for 30 days. Do this by going to Settings > Account > Share my account info in the app. If you do not want your account information shared with Facebook to improve your Facebook ads and products experiences, you can uncheck the box or toggle the control. Readers must note that WhatsApp states in its blog that they still share your information with Facebook. It says, "The Facebook family of companies will still receive and use this information for other purposes such as improving infrastructure and delivery systems, understanding how our services or theirs are used, securing systems, and fighting spam, abuse, or infringement activities."

Talking to someone on Facebook Messenger has its share of pros and cons. On the upside, you don't have to share your number with the person you are talking, so it suits those who are bothered about their privacy. On the flip side, there will be those who don't like the fact that the sender gets to know when their messages are read on Facebook Messenger.
There will be people who like this, but there will also be those who won't. In case you are among the latter, and feel compelled to reply immediately even in situations when it's not practical, we have some help to offer. There is hack which lets you do this. The best and the most effective way to do this is to stop the app from dealing with the internet. And you can do this by switching the Airplane Mode on. So whenever you receive a message on Facebook Messenger and you don't want the sender to know that you have read it, switch on the Airplane Mode in your smartphone. On Android or iPhone If you have an Android smartphone, just drag down the top bar in your phone to look at the settings.
Press on the Airplane icon there to activate Flight mode. If you don't find the icon in the drop down menu, you will find the option in the Settings of your smartphone. And in case you use an iPhone, just drag up the Settings from the bottom of your phone's screen and press on the Airplane icon. Once the Flight mode is on in your phone, you can go to Facebook Messenger, read the message and then switch the Flight mode off. The sender wouldn't get to know that you have read the message.
On Chrome If you use Chrome, you'll be aware that there are a number of apps that can make user experience better. Open a new Chrome tab and click on the colourful square grid on the upper left hand corner called Apps. This will open the menu of from where you can access Docs, Gmail, YouTube, Web Store, etc. Select Web Store and search for Unseen for Facebook. This app automatically block read receipts on Facebook Messenger. Click on Add to Chrome button to install the extension. After the extension is installed, you'll see a blue circular icon on the right of your Search bar on the top. Click on it and select the options you find suitable for your Messenger experience.

Facebook is now in damage control mode after the data leak scandal. To do that Facebook is intimidating its users about whether or not their data was compromised in the Cambridge Analytica Leak. The London based firm was alleged to harvest data from as much as 87 million people using the app ‘This is your digital life’. Facebook is pushing notifications to the users who have been affected by the leak, however not all have received it. This feature of checking for data breach has been added to the Facebook help centre page. After logging in to their respective Facebook accounts, users will need to click here.
A message appears asking the users ‘How can I tell if my info was shared with Cambridge Analytica?’ If the user is safe from the data breach, then a message is displayed informing the same. It reads ‘Based on our available records, neither you nor your friends logged into “This Is Your Digital Life.” Some users have noticed two messages on the top of their screens, out of which one talks about the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the other one talks about their general privacy of Facebook data. If by chance any user was approached by the ‘This is your Digital Life’ quiz in the past, then users will get a message saying – ‘We have banned the website ‘This Is Your Digital Life,’.
Further, Facebook is also people letting know about how they can get rid of unwanted apps which are able to read their personal data from their Facebook account and further protect their private data. After the scandal and then suffering from deteriorating credibility, Facebook has also made some serious changes to their privacy policy. The Social Media giant will now prohibit the app API to access the guest list or posts on the event wall. From now onwards, only the apps which are approved by Facebook will only be allowed to access the event API.
All the Groups API will now need approval from Facebook and also an admin to ensure that they benefit the group. Besides that, Facebook will also remove the names and profile pictures from the comments or posts which were accessible by these APIs. After the Scandal, Facebook has been taking stringent measures to ensure data safety for their users and has been trying really hard to gain the user’s trust and credibility. It remains to be seen how much effect do the present measures prove in improving conditions for Facebook.