Facebook is still well and truly in damage control following the explosive revelations over consulting firm and data mining company Cambridge Analytica. As Wall Street closed on Friday, Mark Zuckerberg's empire had sharply fallen and around £26 billion ($37bn) was wiped off its market value.
Unfortunately, the social networking juggernaut has been hit with a new issue, with users finding out the tech company keeps a log of virtually everything you do on both the Facebook and Messenger apps.
Kiwi software developer Dylan McKay downloaded his data file, stating it contained a 'historical record of every single contact on my phone, including ones I no longer have', 'metadata about every text message I've ever received or sent' and 'the metadata of every cellular call I've ever made, including time and duration'.
He says it's actually pretty easy to find out where all this information is by simply going into Settings and clicking on 'Download a copy of your data'.
His 250mb ZIP file scarily included every single photo and video that was posted on his timeline, as well as all the media that was exchanged in private and group messages.
Imagine all the shit you and your mates have sent back and forth over the years, all those dank memes and cat videos - well that's been logged apparently.
Author Emma Kennedy was similarly shocked when she downloaded her files.
Writing on Twitter, she said: "They have plundered my phone. They have phone numbers of people who aren't on Facebook. They have phone numbers of household names who, I'm sure, would be furious to know their phone numbers are accessible. I'm appalled."
But Facebook says the logging of data is an opt-in system and users are asked whether they are happy with this when they sign up.
Maybe we should have read that pesky Terms and Conditions page before clicking 'Agree'.
A spokesperson has told the Daily Mail: "The first time you sign in on your phone to a messaging or social app, it's a widely used practice to begin by uploading your phone contacts.
"Contact uploading is optional. People are expressly asked if they want to give permission to upload their contacts from their phone - it's explained right there in the apps when you get started.
"People can delete previously uploaded information at any time and can find all the information available to them in their account and activity log from our Download Your Information tool."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Interesting, Facebook, Technology
