The “Stalking Users On Other Sites” Controversy
We first talked about this issue 11 freaking years ago and the court case wrapped up just this February, so a Social Network sequel could use it as an excuse for a fun time-passing montage (picture Mark Zuckerberg in court dancing Gangnam Style, Mark Zuckerberg in court with a face mask on, etc.). In 2011, Facebook was accused of tracking users online even when they weren’t logged in — or when they couldn’t log in, because they were doing this to people who had never registered on Facebook, too. The accusers claimed that Facebook used “like” buttons on other websites to collect data on you and add it to your shadow profile– that is, all the data they have on you that you didn’t intentionally give them in exchange for two likes and an unrelated comment from your aunt.
At the time, Facebook conceded that they were tracking logged-in users through other websites because they had their permission (as we all know from reading all 18,000 or so words in their terms and conditions every time they’re updated), but insisted that logged-out users were safe from this snooping. They said these accusations were “without merit” because Facebook respects your privacy and totally doesn’t see you as an endless well of data they can sell to advertisers. Cut to 2022: