Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that his company does scan messages, images, and links that are privately sent via Messenger. They do this to ensure that they do not violate the social network s community standards.
The revelation was made during an interview with Vox's editor-at-large, Ezra Klein.
While the reasons behind the practice may be for everyone's safety, the news just added to users' concerns over the social network s data privacy issue.
In case you missed it, Facebook is currently in hot water for allegedly selling data of over 50 million Facebook users to consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, who worked for the Donald Trump presidential campaign in 2016.
Aside from that, they are also facing criticism for collecting all the information of your calls and messages through its phone-contact data sharing algorithm.
During the interview, Zuckerberg recalled the time when he received a call from his Facebook's Mountain View Office. He was informed that their systems had blocked a scandalous message about ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
"In that case, our systems detect what's going on," he said. "And we stop those messages from going through."
Just the thought that someone secretly reads your messages is quite disturbing, that's why the revelation got outraged reactions from personalities and netizens worldwide.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Bloomberg, Facebook clarified that while it does scan your private messages, they do not, however, sell it to advertisers. They explained that they have to do it to prevent abuse in messages.
"For example, on Messenger, when you send a photo, our automated systems scan it using photo matching technology to detect known child exploitation imagery or when you send a link, we scan it for malware or viruses," Facebook said.
They added: "Facebook designed these automated tools so we can rapidly stop abusive behavior on our platform."
Want to know if your messages violate the social network's Community Standards? Here s a list of content that Facebook doesn't allow to be shared:
- Direct Threats
- Self-Injury
- Dangerous Organizations
- Bullying and Harassment
- Attacks on Public Figures
- Criminal Activity
- Sexual Violence and Exploitation
- Regulated Goods
- Adult Nudity & Sexual Activity
- Hate Speech
- Violence and Graphic Content
Check out the full list here.
If ever you violated Facebook's Community Standards, you'll receive a warning from the team. Sometimes, they'll even block you from using your account.
This story originally appeared on Fhm.com.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
