Don't Believe the Facebook Hoax Going Around About Paying for Privacy

Company addressed this fake issue last year, insisting that users always have control over the content they post

You might have noticed over the past 24 hours that people on Facebook have had some pretty long, weird and intense stuff in their statuses. No, we're not talking about your Aunt Pearl's 1,000 word rant about how the CSI: Miami was better than the original CSI. (That's asking for a smack down, Pearl!)

We're talking about those statuses that claim Facebook will start charging people to keep their info and content private or how the site is basically going to start climbing in your windows, snatching your info up. It probably looks a little bit like this:

By 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 If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates.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. You MUST copy and paste.

There might also be mentioned of a $5.99 price to buy your privacy and probably claims that a certain local news channel confirmed this information. Rest assured, this is a hoax and is absolutely not true.

This hoax first circulated back in 2012 and it pops up every once in a while to scare people into thinking Facebook is about to share the 9,654 photos of your cats to the world. Personally, we can never have enough cat photos but alas, Facebook will not be doing any such thing.

When this first happened back in 2012, Facebook released this statement:

"There is a rumor circulating that Facebook is making a change related to ownership of users' information or the content they post to the site. This is false. Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and information they post, as stated in our terms. They control how that content and information is shared. That is our policy, and it always has been. "

So remember: Facebook does not own anything you post on the site. But feel free to go into your privacy settings and make sure it's set up the exact way you want it. And you can always click around Facebook's policies page to get more information on confidentiality and your rights as a user.