Here's How Much Facebook Knows About You, Data It Collects & Stores Without Your Knowledge

To say that Facebook's facing a lot of problems right now would be an understatement.

Its data privacy practices are a subject of investigation, Mark Zuckerberg has apologized, and everyone's questioning their Facebook choices right now -- as they well should.

Reuters

So, have you ever stopped and wondered, just how much Facebook knows about you? How much data Facebook collects when you're logged in? Just what exactly you're getting into when you install the app on your phone?

Facebook has a tool which lets you download your Facebook data from the social media giant.

ALSO READ: Facebook's Android App Collected Call Logs, SMS Related Info From Installed Phones For Years

Hit the dark triangle at the extreme right corner of your Facebook browser window (on PC or laptop, this action can't be done on mobile) and hit on Settings. Or type out the URL link in the address bar. Once you're in your Facebook account Settings, locate and hit on the "Download a copy" of your Facebook data link.

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At the next screen you enter your Facebook account's password, Facebook asks if you're sure about getting a copy of your data, you say yes and then you wait for a few minutes. An email is sent to your registered account with a download link to get hold of your Facebook data. My personal data dump on Facebook was just over 262 MB in size, it was downloaded in a few minutes as a zip file.

When you unzip this file, you will see a folder with more folders inside. Something like this...

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Click on the index.htm file, it will open your browser. This is like the offline homepage of different things that Facebook knows about you, presented in a website format for easy consumption. You can see a barebones profile page, listing down all of your personal data points.

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As you can see, the left column has links to more pages specific to your activity on Facebook. Click on Photos and Videos to find out what photos and videos you've shared on Facebook, in a chronological order. Click on Friends to find out all the friends you have on Facebook.

The scary part is when you click on a link like "Ads" for example. Here Facebook will list down all the Ads Topics that it thinks will interest you (by analyzing your behaviour online), advertisers that have your contact info, and a snapshot of the 20 most recent ads you've clicked on (including the time and date stamp).

Facebook knows all your non-Facebook friends and their phone numbers, too

Another scary part is revealed when you click on the "Contact Info" tab. You'd expect to find the contact info you've listed down for yourself on your Facebook profile, wouldn't you? Wrong. Here is the complete list of all the people from your smartphone's contact list, with their phone numbers listed down.

No, it's not your Facebook friends listed down here (because there's another tab for that information). Also I double checked, just to be sure, because I found some name and numbers listed in the "Contact Info" tab, people who aren't on my Facebook friends list.

Facebook data collected and shared with third-party apps

Go back to the Settings page and click on the "Apps" tab in the left column. Here you'll see all the non-Facebook apps that's using your Facebook data -- it could be anything from just your Facebook login credentials to Name and other items.

Scroll down some more on this page to click on "Apps Others Use" link.

Apps Others Use¡¯ on the other hand, is quite the eye-opener. This is a list of what user details about YOU that developers can see when your friends sign up for their apps. Go through the list, and make sure you uncheck whatever you don¡¯t what advertisers to know about you. There¡¯s not real right or wrong here, it just comes down to what you¡¯re comfortable sharing.

Below the Apps tab you'll find the "Ads" tab. Click on it to reveal your Facebook ad profile -- what ads Facebook thinks will interest you. It holds some surprises, so definitely review your personal "Ads" profile to know more what kind of data is being collected by Facebook here.

Here you'll see what all data is collecting about you -- everything from device you use to login to your data connection strength, whether you are a frequent traveller or not (based on your check-ins or location data), what kind of a gamer you are and more.

The most weird part about this Facebook profiling is stuff you didn't realize it was tracking and using against you -- stuff like whether you are close friends with ex-pats, your shopping habits, type of household you live in, etc. Stuff that would be used by advertisers to target you better, essentially how Facebook makes its money.

ALSO READ: How Facebook And Google Collect Your Data And Why They Make It So Difficult To Delete It All