Your Guide To Facebook Security

These days it’s hard to scroll down the newsfeed without being exposed to the #CambridgeAnalytica scandal that centers around British data company Cambridge Analytica, which illicitly obtained information from as many as 50 million Facebook profiles by abusing Facebook's data-sharing features.

The scandal should remind us all to take more responsibility for our own data online. This rule will guide you to the maze of your privacy settings.

First of all, the good news is that the feature that allowed CambrugdeAnalytica its data is no longer available. Before Facebook apps could ask for permission to access not only your data, but all of your friends on the platform. Now Facebook apps are only allowed to gather information from users who have directly signed up. This change was implemented and rolled out in 2015.

However, the apps you have enabled can harvest a significant amount of your data! You might be surprised to know what you exactly are handing over.

On the app setting page on Facebook you are able to manage all the apps you have given access to. Here you will find a list of apps under “logged in with Facebook”. If you don’t recognize the app you can deauthorise them from your account by clicking on the “X”.

Additionally, you can click on the edit button under the “apps others use”. Here you will find the information that potentially can be handed over to others. This includes data such as your date of birth, religious and political views, activities, interests and things you like. On the page you can choose to uncheck all the boxes. According to Facebook this information is used to make the experience better and more social. But you can consider whether you think that’s a good trade off?