Facebook Hoaxes Galore!

Oh boy! Is it that time of year again? I think it is, because I'm starting to see all those usual posts on my Facebook feed.

No not holidays, but hoaxes. You know the type. The ones that get you to copy and paste a paragraph of text that somehow keeps your profile set to private being shared by all your friends on facebook who's understanding of facebook and how the internet in general works is limited to what they see in front of their face which is the social equivalent of believing that the word "gullible" truly is not found in the dictionary. Really, look it up!

If you haven't seen them, congratulations on resisting facebook for so long (or commiserations on not having any friends), here is what the current paragraph looks like:

As of September 29th , 2015 at 07:25 a.m. 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- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. You MUST copy and paste.

First of all, there's like millions upon millions of facebook users so employees of facebook won't have any sort of man power to check these messages. Even if they did, guess what? It holds no legal grounds what so ever. Which means that not only is posting it annoying, it's also a false protection and if you genuinely think you are somehow legally protected and require that kind of legal protection, you won't find it here. 

Now for the second one that's making the rounds:

Now it’s official! It has been published in the media. Facebook has just released the entry price: £5.99 ($9.10) 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 (I said paste not share) if not tomorrow, all your posts can become public. Even the messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. After all, it does not cost anything for a simple copy and paste

This one is totally legit. Really. Ah, see, you're learning! This one too is as legitimate as a Kim Kardashian wedding, and should be treated as such. Ignoring it might make it go away (but probably not).

So you have been warned, if you post this kind of stuff to your wall then forever be branded a nincompoop by friends and family who don't believe everything they read. But you really are after the highest privacy settings in facebook, or on the internet in general, maybe just don't post anything at all. Or at least nothing compromising. Or boring for that matter, EVERY LATTE LOOKS THE SAME!

Except this one: