YOUR Facebook profile picture could be changed without your consent if you break certain rules.
The move is part of Facebook’s clampdown on fake news and anti-vaccine statements.
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A report from the tech giant revealed how it’s battling to remove profile pictures that promote an anti-vaccine message.
Those types of profile pictures, which may feature a person’s face surrounded by an anti-vaccine quote, breach Facebook’s guidelines.
It said in a blogpost: “An important part of our work to increase vaccinations is to address content that violates our rules on COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation.
“Over the course of the pandemic, we have removed more than 16 million pieces of this content from our apps for breaking our rules on COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation.
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“For certain content that does not break these rules, but could still discourage someone from getting vaccinated, we reduce its distribution on Facebook and remove it from recommendations on Facebook and Instagram.”
A CNBC report revealed several anti-vaccine profile picture frames that had been spotted on Facebook.
These included the phrases “I TRUST MY IMMUNE SYSTEM! #NOTASHOT” and “F*** your Covid vaccine.”
Some people are also using frames that don’t explicitly mention the word vaccine or Covid-19, which could make it harder for Facebook to remove them.
CNBC spotted profile pictures that said “I HAVE AN IMMUNE SYSTEM! #MedicalFreedom” alongside “My body My choice.”
There’s also profile pictures that feature crossed out syringe emojis.
Facebook is supportive of profile picture fames that are pro vaccination.
It said: “We know from public health research that people are more likely to get vaccinated if they see others in their community doing so.
“In countries where vaccines are available to most of the population, like the US and the UK, we ramped up our efforts to show people when their friends and neighbours share their support for vaccines through profile frames and stickers.
“More than five million people globally have used these profile frames. And more than 50 percent of people in the US on Facebook have already seen someone use the COVID-19 vaccine profile frames, which we developed in collaboration with the US Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Why does it feel like Facebook is snooping on you?
Here’s what you need to know…
- The magic of targeted advertising is that it should feel relevant to you – even if you can’t figure out why.
- Facebook doesn’t need to spy on your real-life conversations, because you hand over so much information anyway.
- Follow this link and you’ll be able to download everything Facebook knows about you. Most of you will quickly realise it’s a staggering amount of information.
- Advertisers can use information gleaned from your activity all across the web, on multiple devices, even if you’re not logged into Facebook or other services.
- They’ll likely know where you live, what you like, who your friends are, how much money you make, your political beliefs and much more.
- So when you get ads for something you’ve talked about out loud, it’s almost certainly just advertisers being very good at predicting your interests.
- It’s also possible that there’s an advertising campaign running, and you’ve seen an ad and not noticed. You’ve then spoken about it, never realising you’ve been advertised to, and only then notice future ads – which suddenly seem suspicious.
- Let’s say you talked about a holiday to Scotland, and then all of a sudden you’re being advertised holidays to Scotland.
- You may never have searched for anything to do with that before.
- But Facebook could use info about your level of wealth, your past holiday interests, the time of year (ads for wintry Scottish retreats are common in the colder months), and your location.
- What seems like snooping is actually just clever advertising.
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In other news, Twitter is rumoured to be working on subscription service called Twitter Blue that would cost users $2.99 a month.
Instagram is making it easier for you to publicly display your pronouns on your profile.
And, Facebook is facing backlash in the US over plans to create a version of Instagram for children under 13.
How often do you change your Facebook profile picture? Let us know in the comments…
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
