Ways to know if Facebook uploaded your contacts without permission
You can check to see if your contacts were uploaded, and can delete your contact list from Facebooks cache.
(Web Desk) – Facebook Inc said earlier that it may have “unintentionally uploaded” email contacts of 1.5 million new users since May 2016, in what seems to be the latest privacy-related issue faced by the social media company.
A person might still be effected from this even if he or she does not have a Facebook account as it uploads all the addresses of a person’s list which could include his or her peers or it might be your email address that’s feeding the social network’s ad targeting and friend recommendation systems.
While Facebook no longer requires your password to sign up for an account, this is the latest incident to shake confidence in Facebook’s ability to protect its roughly 2.3 billion users as CNET reported
You can check to see if your contacts were uploaded, and can delete your contact list from Facebook’s cache.
Deleting Your Imported Contacts
Unfortunately, unless Facebook contacts you, the only way to know if your contacts were imported is to look at your Uploaded Contacts. Here’s how.
Step 1: Once you’re logged into Facebook on your Android or iPhone, tap the three stacked lines and select Settings from Settings & Privacy. If you’re using a desktop, click on the down arrow and select Settings.
Step 2: Scroll down to the Your Facebook Information section (desktop users will need to click on this) and tap Access Your Information.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Information About You section. Tap About You and select Your Address Books.
You’ll be taken to a page that says Manage Your Invites and Uploaded Contacts. This screen shows you all of your contacts that have been imported. If you don’t see a long list of contacts, then your account has not been affected and you don’t need to continue to the next steps. Hint: It will say "You don’t have any imported contact information."
Step 4: Click "Delete All". This will remove all of your contacts that were imported from your email account, but you will need to follow the next steps to keep them from importing.
How to Keep Facebook from Uploading your Friends’ Email Addresses
To prevent these contacts from being imported again, follow the next steps on each device you have logged in to Facebook -- yes, that means your phone and your tablet. Yes, it’s a pain to have to do this multiple times. But your friends will thank you for not sharing their information.
Step 1: Tap the stacked three lines at the top of the app and select Settings & Privacy. Tap Settings.
Step 2: Scroll down to the Media and Contacts section. Tap Upload Contacts.
Step 3: Swipe the button to the left to disable contacts from automatically uploading. Again, make sure you do this for every device you have Facebook on.
Facebook has been hit by a number of privacy-related issues recently, including a glitch that exposed passwords of millions of users stored in readable format within its internal systems to its employees.
Separately, Facebook was asked to ensure its social media platform is not abused for political purposes or to spread misinformation during elections.
