To worry about how FB is collecting data?

[TakeTwenty]

I’m not a conspiracist, but I’m starting to wonder how they seem to know so much about my life and how they are collecting all this data.

It’s a suggested friend thing that’s made me wonder. I have someone in my contacts who I have not spoken to for a month. We have no friends in common on FB. I messaged him a couple of days ago on WhatsApp and we exchanged a few msgs.

Suddenly, he’s popped up on the top of my suggested friends. Does FB know who I’m contacting via WhatsApp?

Has anyone else noticed this? Not sure I’m in being paranoid or if they platforms do share info?

WhatsApp is one of the Facebook companies and they do share information.

They sure do share information. Also do you have FB messenger app on your phone, if you have and at the time of installing you gave it access to see your phone 'contacts' it will use these mobile numbers, match them to FB profiles (lots of people 'give' FB their mobile number) and then suggest friends based on the mobile numbers in your phone.

It's a trade off with all these FREE to use platforms - the price you pay is your privacy

Yes it is pretty shady, this article sheds some light on how they use data:

www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/technology/facebook-privacy-hearings.html

I think the thing that’s completely thrown me off is this is someone who was already a phone/ WhatsApp contact. It’s the first time we’ve spoken in ages so that means FB is not just monitoring who my contacts are, but when I’m engaging with them. It’s making me a little paranoid about how conversations are then.

Has anyone ever mentioned something they like it a WhatsApp convo and then had targeted ads about it on FB out of interest?

*secure conversations are

Read Shoshana Zuboff’s book on surveillance capitalism. You are the product!