How Facebook Bullies Privacy Limits

In a world where Facebook is trying to be even more ubiquitous, it's decided to do something quite sneaky.

Not only has Facebook messenger eaten SMS on android devices this past summer, now it's being reported WhatsApp, is going to share your phone number with Facebook. 

Your phone number now belongs to Facebook. 

Facebook has already co-opted an entire generation who get their news via Facebook itself, now it wants to own how to get to your smart phone before the parade of chat bots begins. 

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is facing a bit of an identity crisis, between principle and the profit motive. Now it will start to share the phone numbers of its more-than 1 billion active users, with Facebook. 

Facebook Shows Aggressive Syncing Forcing Its Services 

Users have 30 days to accept the new changes, but you know most of us are literally quite lazy digitally. We've signed on to the largest data collection and Big Data experiment of our times, for free. 

Earlier this summer by auto-pushing android phones' text messaging to default its SMS to Facebook messenger, Facebook are doing things that display a total disregard for their users and in a quiet act of desperation to remain relevant. 

Surround and conquer is Facebook’s new strategy for getting people to switch to their side, it's not enough that they know everything about us. 

Two thirds of Facebook's 1.7 billion users are active on a monthly basis. WhatsApp owned by Facebook and Facebook Messenger, both have around 1 billion users. 

The Play on our Data 

WhatsApp has basically been left in the dust by more innovative Chinese rival WeChat, and was acquired by Facebook for $21.8 billion when executives promised our privacy would be safeguarded. 

WhatsApp casually calls it "updating our terms and privacy policy", as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

But hey, don't worry, there is end-to-end encryption, these are just new "features" for you the user.

WhatsApp goes on to say we don't even need a Facebook account to use its service, isn't that generous! 

This is a strong-arm tactic on the part of Facebook. They continue on a campaign to run roughshod on our privacy rights - Center for Digital Democracy. 

We Live in a Technological Bubble Owned by Silicon Valley 

However for mobile natives who grew up with social media and want new features, privacy rights don't seem to be a big deal. Sure, you can have my data - what's in it for me? What's up with that Whatsapp? 

As global society is now morbidly addicted to their smart phones, we're being conditioned to lower productivity by a constant digital threshold of stimulation. Facebook, wouldn't have it any other way! 

72% of American adults get their news from their smart phones, up 18% from just two years ago. 

The End of Personal Privacy 

When on one hand they say “respect for your privacy is coded into our DNA”, and then share phone data with their owners, it's a pretty bold thing to do. Better advertisement targeting means more money for the already-dominant Facebook empire.

Monetizing Whatsapp and FB Messenger, means building new integrations on channels where people are actually active.  People are spending much less time on social media apps, so Facebook is "following the money", to SMS. 

The email, name, isn't what matters, it's the mobile device we are using, this is the insidious groundwork for what's to come. Are you ready for businesses to target you on Whatsapp or nifty friend suggestions?

Chatbots That Can Get to You 

By giving users so little time to make a decision, it's showing just how sneaky and greedy the pipeline is becoming. You know, because ad-blocking is cutting into profits and endless growth is not really good enough. 

Social media networks are finding clever ways to get our phone number, it's partially because they already know everything else about us. Facebook dominates the chat over business and wants to keep us in her pretty little hands.

As Tech Crunch put it, the company sees messaging as the future of social, and it doesn’t care if it ruffles some feathers to win. 

Do you mind that Facebook knows your phone number or that Whatsapp will automatically share it with its owner unless you opt-out?