Data-Scraping Apps Could Have Access To Your Personal Messages And Phone Calls

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After news hit about Facebook’s third-party data breach, pretty much everyone using social media is on edge. What information of ours is safe? And how can we keep it that way?

While we can tell you that there are ways to safeguard your info, there’s more data of yours being scraped than you think. Apparently, some apps could even have access to your personal messages.

According to CNN, Facebook has already taken steps to make its users feel more safe, like allowing you to see what apps are connected to your account, but that may not be enough. Whatever apps you decide to keep connected to your Facebook account, like Uber or Tinder, could actually be scraping more data than Facebook is. Worse yet, it’s legal for these third parties to scrape more data on you through Facebook because a statement with this information is likely in the fine print of their consent agreements, which basically no millennial ever will read.

That means that — yep — some of these apps could actually be reading your private messages and a list of your (private on Facebook) friends list. Are you cringing yet? Because we definitely are.

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Of course, it gets even worse. News.com.au reported on March 27 that Facebook has actually been using data from people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android phones. As much as 33 percent of Australians alone have been affected by this particular feature. Facebook denied that the feature scrapes any actual content from these calls and messages and that you can turn off the feature in Settings.

Honestly, we’re not sure what to say other than to be aware of what apps you log onto and your activity on them. Most importantly, read the fine print! It’ll take you a bit of time, but we promise you’ll have more peace of mind after understanding exactly what you signed up for.