Security News > 2022 > November > This Hidden Facebook Tool Lets Users Remove Their Email or Phone Number Shared by Others

Facebook appears to have silently rolled out a tool that allows users to remove their contact information, such as phone numbers and email addresses, uploaded by others.

When users sync the contact lists on their devices with Facebook, it's worth pointing out the privacy violation, which stems from the fact that those contacts didn't explicitly consent to the upload. "Someone may have uploaded their address book to Facebook, Messenger or Instagram with your contact information in it," Facebook notes in the page.

"You can ask us to confirm whether we have your phone number or email address."

If the information is present in Facebook or Instagram, it can be requested for deletion from its address book database, although Meta says it needs a copy of the phone number or email address to be added to a block list maintained by the company so as to prevent it from being re-uploaded.

In other words, Facebook may still end up having the contact information of those who are looking to get them removed from the platform in the first place, albeit in a different form.

While the utility is primarily aimed at non-users, it allows any user to prevent this information from being shared from their friends' contact lists in the same manner as that of TrueCaller's Unlisting functionality.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/11/this-hidden-facebook-tool-lets-users.html