What Does Facebook Know And What Do They Do With It?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- If you were among the nearly 80 million U.S. Facebook users whose data was breached, you should be receiving an alert from the company as early as today.
As CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports, even Facebook users whose data was not compromised will shortly receive a link at the top of their news feeds to learn what Facebook knows about them and how to opt out.
"You are using Facebook for free, but it comes at a cost. The cost is the data you give to Facebook when you use it," said social media marketer and consultant Tracy Samantha Schmidt.
Schmidt and Gerasole clicked through what users can now learn about themselves.
To do this, first access your account in the upper right hand corner, scroll down and click settings. On the left side of your screen, click on a newer feature called "Apps and Websites." It reveals all the places users have visited, collecting data through Facebook.
"Facebook is tracking everything you do, from who you are friends with to how often you are interacting with them," said Schmidt, who founded a consultancy company called Socially Authentic.
It is possible now to remove the locations, plus any posts or pictures associated with them with just two clicks. The seemingly innocent content was used to push voter-influencing material to Facebook users.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress this week. He will say in part that the company didn't go enough to prevent the company's data for being used inappropriately.
Schmidt says there has already been fallout for Facebook.
"I have lots of clients pulling their money out of social media and putting it into Google and other platforms."