Facebook privacy hoax strikes again - what to know

Reuters

The Internet has done it again — many people have fallen for the latest Facebook hoax, which is really not a new one.

The hoax involved led Facebook users to believe that a statement should be reposted to stop the social media from displaying all of their information publicly.

People have feared that Facebook might release private content so they are convinced that the status, which comes in several versions, should be posted.

One of the many versions of the hoax statement read:

"Now it's official! It has been published in the media. Facebook has just released the entry price: $5.99 to keep the subscription of your status to be set to 'private.' If you paste this message on your page, it will be offered free (paste not share) if not tomorrow, all your posts can become public."

Indeed, some people copy pasted the message and it was successful enough, especially for those who are genuinely concerned about their online privacy.

However, Facebook denied the rumor, along with all the rumors of the same nature from the past. The last time this rumor went big was in January, CNN reported.

The same hoax statement also circulated back in 2012 and Snopes.com also documented another version from 2009, the news outlet gathered.

Screenshot from Facebook

Facebook does not own its users' profile content — not entirely — since the site does get permission to use some photos, status messages, or videos that are set to public posting, based on the social media's user agreement.

As stated in Facebook's terms of service, a user owns all content posted on the site and has control over how it's shared by navigating to the privacy and application settings.

For those who really want to avoid the online privacy issues, there's that option that sets posts to private, giving access to content to family members and close friends only.

Alternatively, setting the account to public will definitely make all photos, statuses, and videos viewable to everyone.

More of Facebook's full terms of service may be viewed through this link.