Facebook Privacy Hoax Is Back: Don't Waste Your Time

Anu Passary, Tech Times 29 June 2016, 02:06 am

The Facebook privacy notice hoax is back and ready to trap willing victims. A word to the wise — don't waste your time copy pasting the privacy message on your status.

The fake message in question that has gone viral uses legal jargon and claims to safeguard the user's content, as Facebook is supposedly going to make private posts public. Do not fall for this scam, as it has surfaced on the social media site earlier as well — 2012, 2014 and 2015.

The Rome Statute hoax privacy notice message seems to have gotten a new lease of life on the social media site and follows pretty much the same format. The declaration (which you may have seen plenty of people on your friend list on Facebook share) in its new avatar is as follows:

This is essentially a recycled version of the fake privacy notice message that surfaced in 2015 and read as follows:

"I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308-11 308-103 and the Rome Statute)."

While the disclaimer is being posted as a status update by many people (yet again) in a bid to protect themselves, Facebook has addressed the copyright meme post via a statement in the past. At the time, the site affirmed that the rumor is false.

Interestingly, this is not the only privacy notice hoax that has been hounding the social networking sites' users. Another scam that is looking to trick Facebook users is the "price grid" message, which previously surfaced in 2012 and has now made a comeback on the social networking site. The scam leads people into believing that Facebook will be charging a fee from its users for using the social networking platform.

The hoax message goes something like this:

"Facebook just released their price grid for membership. $9.99 per month for gold member services, $6.99 per month for silver member services, $3.99 per month for bronze member services, free if you copy and paste this message before midnight tonight. When you sign on tomorrow morning you will be ... prompted for payment info."

The message goes on to say that the wall icon will turn blue, and Facebook will become free. What if you don't spread the word? The account will be deleted if you do not make a payment!

We suggest you do not fall for any of these scams, and if paranoid, it is better to go to the privacy settings on Facebook and turn it to the "only me" option. This would be more effective than sharing the fake privacy protection notice for sure.