Facebook Privacy Hoax : How To Spot Fake FB Announcements

My Facebook News Feed is currently flooded with posts like these and it's driving me crazy!
(Seriously, stop it! I can't believe you guys fell for this trickery.)

Facebook Privacy Hoax

Facebook Privacy Hoax

Facebook Privacy Hoax

Whoever started this hoax of a campaign wants all of us to believe that Facebook is interested in getting full ownership of everything we post on the site - including photos, notes, and videos - and that the only way to stop this from happening is by copying and pasting a simple status update.

Come on. If Facebook really wanted that to happen, it would be the stuff of epic court cases on user privacy and security around the world.

If you read Facebook's Terms and Conditions, you'd know that the social networking site only wants you to give them non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with FB. Nowhere is it written in the agreement that Facebook will have the freedom to do whatever it wants with the content that you share on the site. In fact, the company states outright and clearly that you own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. (source)

So there you go. I hope that's clear.

Now, if you've been victimized by this recurring hoax, I'm sure you're wondering how you can easily spot fake Facebook announcements in the future. Actually, it's very easy:

If the message didn't come directly from Facebook - which you would have gotten via official email, a Messenger note from the Facebook Team, or a status update from the official account of Facebook that appears on top of your News Feed - it's most likely fake. Hence, it would be wise not to pass it around.

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