If you, like me, live in the EU, Facebook is now entirely clamping down and forcing free users to make their personal data available for monetization.

Attempting to access any Facebook domain and perhaps also other meta products will redirect you to the following prompt with a choice between either accepting the monetization of your user data, or coughing up a region-dependent monthly subscription fee: base (for me ~10€) + an additional fee (~7€) for each additional facebook or instagram account you have.

Now, the hidden third option. At an initial glance, it seems like there is no other option but to click one of the buttons - however, certain links still work, and grant access to important pieces of functionality through your web browser.

If anyone has information to add regarding Facebook or Instagram, please do share it. I’ve only (begrudgingly) used the former up until now, but I know many others use Instagram and don’t feel like giving a single cent (nor their personal info) to Meta.

  1. https://www.facebook.com/dyi - perhaps most important of all, now is a good time to make a request to download your Facebook data. Don’t forget to switch to data for “all time” and “high quality” if you intend to permanently delete your account.

  2. https://www.facebook.com/your_information - here you can find and manage your information, but crucially also access Facebook messenger.

  3. The messenger app: Still hasn’t prompted me with anything, though I expect that will change in the not too far future.

Currently my plan is to use messenger to inform any important friends that I intend to leave FB, and where they’ll be able to reach me in the future.

  • LWD@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The options are actually:

    • Pay up with your money and your data
    • Pay up with your data

    Along with weasel words that imply your data is not going to be laundered, sold, abused, etc. It will be.

      • LWD@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        For brevity, but technically, Facebook maintains a profile on you even if you never use their website. They buy data about your offline activity…

        Really, there are two kinds of people. The ones who have accounts on Facebook, and the ones who don’t know they have accounts with Facebook

        • Bazoogle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Offline activity stays offline if it never goes online. If you don’t have a facebook account, then your probably have thousands of facebook accounts. It will generate an identity for each unique advertising ID you use, and you can always generate new ones in most devices.

          • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            Those accounts get combined through fingerprinting and other dark systems.