29% of all people alive right now use Facebook right now - that means more than 1 in 4 people.
Its become almost inescapable aspect of modern life - many people actually say they don't
particularly like Facebook, its just convinient.
Its waning popularity might have something to do with the scandals and dark secrets that
have been revealed along its 14 year history.
Lets look at 10 of the most shocking.
My name is Danny Burke, this is the Top 10 Dark Facebook Secrets.
Starting off at number 10 we have Cambridge Analytica.
This is perhaps one of the most famous Facebook scandals in recent years.
In June 2014, a researcher named Aleksandr Kogan developed a personality quiz app for
Facebook.
270,000 users were asked if the app could acess their data and less known, the data
of their friends.
Because of this, from the small pool of people, Kogan was able to gain access to the data
of up to 87 million Facebook profiles.
He then sold that data to Cambridge Analytica, a voter profiling company.
They used it to make 30 million so called -psychographic- profiles about voters.
It was eventually revealed that the company had use their information to influence the
US election, the Brexit referendum, and a number of other big political events over
the past few years.
When the spotlight turned to Facebook, they said that the users consented to giving the
app their data - but this wasnt good enough for many people who felt Facebook could no
longer be trusted with their information …
Moving on to number 9 we have Reading Messages.
In the wake of the aforementioned Cambridge Analytica scandal, many people started downloading
their Facebook data to see what exactly Facebook had stored on them.
Many people expected pictures, status updates, perhaps a list of their friends.
However, they found a lot more - and people shared their discoveries on Twitter.
One user found that Facebook had recorded the data of every call hed every made, including
the time and duration- as well as -data about every text message Ive received or sent- … actress
Emma Kennedy tweeted that her data revealed Facebook had recorded every phone number in
her contacts, every social event she went to, a list of her friends birthdays and a
list of every text shed ever sent.
Facebook responded by saying they take nothing that the user doesnt agree to at some point
or another.
Do you guys think its the fault of the user, or are Facebook overstepping a boundry?
Next up at number 8 we have Divorce.
Did you know Facebook is said to cause divorces?
According to a 2009 survey in the UK, around 20 percent of divorce petitions included some
kind of reference to Facebook.
Its thought that Facebook was causing people in marriages to worry about their spouses
contacts and relations with other people online.
Researchers claim that high levels of Facebook usage can cause in Facebook related conflicts
which lead to breakups and even divorce.
Facebook jealousy, partner surveillance, ambiguous information and online portrayal of intimate
relationships are just some of the facets of this phenomenon.
Quite often, partners on one side of the divorce report feeling neglected and having lower
feelings of passion and intimacy in the relationship.
Have you guys ever been involved or witnessed a relationship breakdown due to Facebook?
Next up at number 7 we have Facebook Stalking.
Its an elephant in the room when it comes to using Facebook - the more you put out there,
the more likely it is that someone with a little bit too much interest in you can stalk
you and make your life uncomfortable or even hell.
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime - over 1 million women and 370 thousand
men are stalked anually in the US.
63% of Facebook profiles are visible to the public - but its teens that are most at risk.
3 out of 10 teens in the US have been stalked by complete strangers on Facebook and received
numerous friend requests from people they don't even know.
Perhaps more worrying is that 7 in 10 victims know their offender in some way.
In the years since its creation, Facebook has taken extra measures to ensure its users
safety when it comes to stalking, but its still brought up in many conversations.
Next up at number 6 we have Addiction.
You may be surprised to hear that Facebook is said to be as addictive as alcohol or smoking.
A 2011 study found that some users found quitting social networking sites such as a Facebook
to be comparable to quitting smoking or giving up alcohol.
You may think Facebook denies this but they kind of admitted it - at least, Sean Parker
did.
He's the billionaire early Facebook investor who has claimed Mark Zuckerbeg knowingly made
Facebook as addictive as possible.
He said in the early days, Facebooks entire goal was to consume was much of your time
and conscious attention as possible.
If youd like an anecdotal story about how addictive Facebook can be - hows this: in
2014, it was reported that the site went down for about 30 minutes which prompted several
users to call the police due to severe withdrawal symptoms.
Moving on to number 5 we have Minimum Age.
Facebook sets the minimum age to use its site as 13.
However, many young people have reported having their Facebook accounts before reaching that
age.
A 2011 study by First Monday examined how parents consistently enable children as young
as 10 to sign up for accounts.
The study involved over 1000 households and found that 76% of parents reported that their
child joined Facebook when they were younger than 13.
The study also claimed that Facebook removed roughly 20,000 users each day for violating
its minimum age policy.
Of course, this is to do with internet laws aswell but many criticised Facebook for not
making it clear enough to parents that Facebook had a minimum age.
47% of parents said they were unaware Facebook had ever set a minimum age at all!
Next up at number 4 we have The Greater Good.
Many people were outraged after a 2016 Facebook memo got leaked, revealing a dark side to
the company.
The memo, published by Buzzfeed, was written by a Facebook vice president - Andrew Bosworth.
In it, he argued that Facebooks growth is more important than any safety concerns.
One specfic quote seemed to disturb people more than all others.
Bosworth said -Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools, and still
we connect people.
The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows
us to connect more people more often is de facto good- … of course, Bosworth claiming
that terrorists using Facebook to help them kill innocent people is still a good thing
did not go down well with the public.
He admitted writing the memo but said he didnt agree with it, he only wanted to start a conversation
about the topic.
Most people didnt buy that though, and Facebook made the news in all the wrong ways …
At number 3 now we have Cookies.
In November 2011, an article published by USA today claimed that Facebook had been creating
logs of pages visited by its users and non users.
The use of tracking cookies is nothing new, many websites ask your permission to use them
so that they can see your browsing habits.
Youre usually given the chance to say no but in this case, Facebook was using cookies to
track people who never even visited their site.
Of course, this caused a lot of outrage - its one thing Facebook doing things with the data
of its own users if they agree to it - its another thing doing it to users who may have
never visited the site at all.
A number of governments took moves to stop this.
One example came in November 2015 - the Belgian Privacy Commissioner ordered Facebook to cease
tracking non users or face fines of a quarter of a million 330 thousand dollars a day.
Facebook claimed this practice actually made users safer but they were eventually forced
to stop.
This is the reason why you now have to log in to Facebook to see public available content!
Next up at number 2 now we have Envy.
Facebook has been accused of causing a spike in envious people and the unhappiness that
accompanies it.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to Facebook and Im sure youre all aware of it.
Facebook shows people their friends living successful and positive lives which are often
highly representative, basically, its all just a front.
We all know this about social media but still, its something that many of us slip into - envy,
jealousy, even if we know its not real.
This is obviously down to the fact that most people don't share negative aspects of their
life on Facebook, only positive ones.
Another reason is that because Facebook is open to everyone, it exposes inequality between
social groups, showing the have nots what the haves - have!
If that makes sense.
All of this can lead people to severe depression, self loathing, rage and feelings of inferiority.
Is this just part of the Facebook game, human nature, or a technique Facebook uses to keep
you hooked?
And finally at number at number 1 we have Fake News.
Its a phrase that didnt exist a few years ago, now everyone knows it, and many say its
thanks to Facebook.
After the 2016 US presidential election, it came under heavy fire with people claiming
it didnt do enough to stop the spread of fake news stories on their site.
Some even went as far as to say Donald Trump would not have won if the fake stories that
helped his agenda were not so widespread.
Many of you guys may be young or tech savvy enough to know a fake news story you see online
just from the title.
But many older generations who use Facebook grew up in a time when news stories were arguably
a lot more credible, at least the main sources of news.
These days, more than 40% of Americans say they get their news from Facebook.
With titles such as -Pope Francis endorses Donald Trump- or -Obama Admits He Was Born
In Kenya-, its no wonder people are concerned.
Those stories were shared by millions of people without a shred of evidence to back them up.
The people behind these fake stories are motivated by quick cash through adverts on Facebook
- thats not inherently Facebooks fault, but they have since admitted they could do more
to curb the spreading of fake news on their site.
Whether they like it or not, this little website made in a college dorm back in 2004 now had
the power to sway global politics, and its learning to take the responsibility that comes
with that.
Well, thats all I have to say on that.
What do you think about Facebook?
Do you think theyre just an easy target because theyre the biggest social media site in the
west?
Or do you think the company wields its immense power in shady ways, all in the name of profit?
Lets hear your opinions down below, thanks for watching as always, my name is Danny Burke
and Ill see you all in the next video.