Why does nobody talk about the exact stat on Facebook's shadow profiles?

I stumbled on this bit from a researcher at Princeton last week and it actually made me pause. They found that Facebook has data on over 5 billion people total, including people who never even made an account. That's 5 billion. I have an aunt who refuses to touch social media and I guarantee she's in there somewhere, tagged from someone else's photo or location check-in. The creepy part is they build these shadow profiles from your friends' contact lists, browsing habits, and even offline purchases. I couldn't believe a company could legally hold info on someone who never agreed to anything. How do you even opt out of something you didn't sign up for? Has anyone else dug into this and found a way to see if they're in someone else's shadow profile?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sam1mo ago

You're right, that part about getting a friend to download their full data is exactly the kind of detective work most people don't even realize is possible. I did the same thing with my brother and found my name attached to a group photo from a party I never attended, it was unsettling how much info gets collected without your knowledge. That trick of asking everyone to remove your contact info from synced phones is smart but like you said, the whole system is built to trap you no matter what.

evan_campbell1mo ago

dude this is exactly the rabbit hole i fell down last summer. i actually managed to check if i was in my buddy's shadow profile by having him download his full facebook data and search for my name. it worked, found myself tagged in places i never posted. the only real way i found to minimize it is to ask everyone you know to remove your contact info from their phone book if they sync it with facebook. it sucks but that contact upload is how most people get looped in. also turning off off-facebook activity in your settings does help a tiny bit even though it's not a full fix. honestly the whole thing is designed to be impossible to escape completely, which is why nobody talks about it.