A fresh start to the year means a fresh new set of Facebook hoaxes for people to fall for. Dodgy videos, and nefarious click boxes have done the rounds in the past to make you fall foul to the tricksters schemes, and this time the Facebook hoax is a set of text people are reposting in relation to the supposed new Facebook Guidelines.

 Protecting Against Lies

A recent post has appeared on many users feeds, offering protection against Facebook from using their photos, videos and comments posted on the social service without permission. Users sharing the post believe that the text will protect them from any misuse of their material, which is already a little odd, as guidelines don’t tend to have get out clauses if you share something.  Rules are rules.

And it turns out the guidelines the post opposes don’t even exist! Facebook doesn’t own the copyright to material posted by users on the service, they just have the right to share content, and only if the privacy settings allow it. This can be seen in the company’s very own Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, a location many purchase effexor Facebook users never venture into.

fb privacy

An example of the text Facebook users have been sharing across the social network.

Digging further into the message, it even contains a typo, calling the Berne Convention, which protects literary and artistic work, the Berner Convention. It’s something which will be missed by many, but the smallest mistakes help pull a hoax apart.
The Truth of the Matter
A spokesperson for Facebook, Andrew Noyes said, ‘We have noticed some statements that suggest otherwise and we wanted to take a moment to remind you of the facts – when you post things like photos to Facebook, we do not own them.’

The latest Facebook Hoax will most likely continue to be reposted for a little while longer, by those hoodwinked into believing every thing they read on the social service. But for those currently unaware of what’s going on, this news should keep you away from any reposting circles. Just jump into your privacy settings if you’re concerned about your content.

At RS Digital our content is our own, and we don’t need to share a big post about it!

JoeRayW
RS Digital
Senior Researcher