How to Prevent Facebook from Uploading your Contacts

Facebook isn’t always careful with the information we entrust with it, and the company’s latest privacy misstep may have accidentally uploaded your email contacts. For the last three years, a bug caused Facebook to accidentally import your contacts when you verified your identity by giving Facebook your email password. All in all, Facebook harvested the contacts of 1.5 million new users, without ever telling users exactly what it was doing. Though your contacts were never shared with anyone, they were used to target ads and flesh out the company’s web of social connections. It’s hardly the worst privacy breach Facebook has been involved with, but it’s yet another unauthorized use of our personal information.

Even if you weren’t affected by this bug, it’s relatively easy to give Facebook permission to upload your contacts. But it’s never too late to secure your information: Facebook lets you delete any contact information it has imported, which helps protect your privacy and your friends’ privacy.

Though getting rid of these uploaded contacts will make Facebook’s friend recommendations a little worse, it won’t actually remove friends or change the content you see on Facebook. All it does is prevent Facebook from using your friends to target ads and suggest new new friends. It’s a simple privacy safeguard that won’t hurt your Facebook experience.

Here’s how to find and delete your imported contacts from Facebook, plus prevent them from ever being uploaded again.

How to see if Facebook imported your contacts

Directions are a little different depending on how you’re accessing Facebook.

Check for imported contacts using the Facebook app

• Tap the three stacked lines to open the menu
• Tap Settings & Privacy > Settings
• Under Your Facebook Information, tap Access Your Information
• Under Information About You, tap About You > Your Address Books

Check for imported contacts using the Facebook website

• Click the down arrow in the upper right to open the menu
• Click Settings > Your Facebook Information > Access Your Information
• Under Information About You, click About You > Your Address Books

If you haven’t uploaded any contacts, Facebook will say “You don’t have any imported contact information.” Otherwise, you’ll see a list of contact information. You can select contacts to delete individually by selecting each and then clicking “Delete Selected.” However, it’s much easier to get rid of them all at once by clicking “Delete All.”

Disable contact uploads to Facebook

If you didn’t have any contacts uploaded, you’re now done. But if you did, you now have to disable content uploads from your smartphone, tablet, and any other mobile device you use to access Facebook with the Facebook app or Messenger app. While that can turn into quite a few steps, it’s a must-do if you want to protect your privacy.

Disable contact uploads using the Facebook app

• Tap the three stacked lines to open the menu
• Tap Settings & Privacy > Settings
• Under Media & Contacts, tap Upload Contacts
• Toggle it off

Disable contact uploads using the Messenger app

• Tap your profile picture in the upper left
• Tap People > Upload Contacts
• Toggle the feature off

You have to follow these steps on each device with the Facebook app or Messenger app — otherwise, your contacts will simply be re-uploaded after you delete them.

Is it time to delete Facebook?  

  If you’ve decided you’re done with Facebook and its endless privacy problems, you can just delete your account — but deleting Facebook may not do much to protect your privacy, either. So if you enjoy using Facebook, you’ll want to regularly review your privacy settings, but you don’t need to jump to extreme measures. 

[Image credit: Facebook on phone via BigStockPhoto]

Facebook, Phones and Mobile, Mobile Apps, Android Apps, iPhone/iPad Apps, Tips & How-Tos, Privacy