This is by no means the first time such a scam has made the rounds on Facebook. The BBC reports the latest one starts by proclaiming: “Now it’s official! It has been published in the media. Facebook has just released the entry price: $5.99 to keep the subscription of your status to be set to ‘private’.”
The lengthy message continues to explain that “all your posts” will become public after 11:30 a.m. Eastern standard time on September 28 if the fee is not paid. Fortunately, it offers users a way out of this fictional charge — by copying and pasting the entire text onto their profile and therefore apparently refusing Facebook any access.
The “legal” section of the text reads: “Better safe than sorry. As of September 28th 11:30 am Eastern standard time, I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents.”
The post has quickly made its way around the social network as people have followed its advice and posted it as statuses, prompting others to do the same. The scam goes so far as to warn users “DO NOT SHARE. You MUST copy and paste.”
Because of this and despite the lack of any legal basis whatsoever, the supposed privacy notice has been shared hundreds of thousands of times over the past few days. The spread has prompted Facebook to take action by responding with a light-hearted post referencing yesterday’s news from NASA: “While there may be water on Mars, don’t believe everything you read on the Internet today. Facebook is free and it always will be. And the thing about copying and pasting a legal notice is just a hoax. Stay safe out there Earthings!”
Reposting a chained text message wouldn’t be able to protect your profile even if Facebook did choose to start charging for private posts. By using the service you indicate acceptance of Facebook’s user terms which can be found in full on its website.
However, the company is clear that its users retain full rights to all content that they upload. In a response to a similar chain message in 2012, Facebook wrote: “Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been.”
