This post is about the other side of Facebook apps, the side you probably don’t even know about. Here’s the scoop. When you add an app, it asks for certain permissions. One of those permissions is access to your personal information. Did you know that Facebook shares your information with apps even if you don’t use those apps? Unless you say no, Facebook share your personal data with apps that your friends use. Here’s how to limit this theft of your private details.

1. Same as yesterday, go to the top right corner of any Facebook page, click the down arrow and choose Settings. Next, click Apps. On the page that comes up, look for this section underneath the list of apps that you use:

 

 

 

 

2. This is what you see next. Remember that these are not even apps that you use, just apps that your friends use:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure you uncheck everything on this menu. Everything. Don’t be surprised that you didn’t know about all of this. Facebook tends to hide such things, hoping you won’t be able to find them. That’s why we’re here.

Facebook tells you that sharing all of this data is to ‘make their experience better and more social’. What do you think? How will letting an app know everything you share with Facebook make things better for your friend’s Facebook experience? It won’t. All this does is give advertisers a fuller picture of your friend’s friends…in other words you!

Not only does Facebook hide the fact that foreign apps use your data, they penalize you for trying to increase your privacy. Sure, you can turn off all Platform apps but ‘you will not be able to use any games or apps yourself’. To us, this seems downright petty. Let us know what you think about all of this.

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