COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Another month and yet another hoax on Facebook is clogging up newsfeeds everywhere.
This one isn’t new, even though some of the words have changed.
The post, which claims Facebook is changing its privacy policy, reads:
Deadline tomorrow !!! Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from tomorrow. Even messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. It costs nothing for a simple copy and paste, better safe than sorry. Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook’s privacy policy. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. With 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 content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. Copy and paste.
According to Snopes.com, this copyright-related hoax has been around since November 2012. It’s not true, and Facebook has addressed the hoax on several occasions.
“This is false. Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms,” Facebook stated. “They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been.”
This isn’t the only Facebook post that’s been spread before. Last year, there was a post that went viral claiming Facebook was going to start selling your pictures and information unless you shared the post. Another one claimed you were going to have to pay $9.10 to keep your profile set to private. There was even a post that claimed Mark Zuckerberg would be giving away millions of dollars to Facebook users. All of them, of course, were not true.