The Digital Dilemma: Should You Delete Your Photos from Social Media?

Legal jargon can be tedious to read, but have you ever gone through the terms of service for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp (all owned by Meta)? It's quite disturbing how much of your information is collected for their advantage. Here's a snippet from Facebook's terms: "Ownership of Content: Users maintain ownership of the photos and content they upload to Meta platforms. However, by posting content, users provide Meta with a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to use, distribute, and display that content." You can read Meta's privacy policy here: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy

If you intend to keep your photos on social media platforms, I suggest adjusting your privacy settings. Below are some practical measures you can take to improve the privacy and security of your photos on Meta platforms (such as Facebook and Instagram):

To protect your photos on FaceBook and Instagram

1. Adjust Privacy Settings:

   • Go to your account settings and navigate to the Privacy section.

   • Set your profile and photo visibility to Friends or Only Me to limit who can see your posts.

2. Review Tagging Options:

   • Control who can tag you in photos by adjusting the Tagging settings.

   • Enable the option to review tags before they appear on your profile.

3. Limit Audience for Photo Posts:

   • When posting photos, select the audience (e.g., Friends, Custom) to control who can see them right at the time of posting.

4. Use Temporary Stories:

   • Instead of posting photos to your feed, consider using the Stories feature, which disappears after 24 hours.

5. Be Cautious with Friend Requests:

   • Only accept friend requests from people you know personally to minimize the risk of unwanted exposure.

6. Regularly Review Your Posts:

   • Periodically check your past posts and photos. Delete or adjust the audience settings for any that you no longer want to be public.

7. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA):

   • Turn on 2FA for added security on your account to prevent unauthorized access.

8. Use Secure Connections:

   • Always access Meta platforms using a secure internet connection. Avoid public Wi-Fi when accessing sensitive information.

I recommend 2 more activities, download your information and set up your memoralization settings.

To download your information:

1. Click on your photo

2. Settings and privacy

3. Settings

4. Meta accounts center

5. personal details

6. Your info and permissions

7. Download your information

To establish your FB legacy, you have two choices: delete your account upon death or memorialize your page.

1. From the same settings as above but choose "personal details" instead of "your info and permissions"

2. Account ownership and control

3. Memorialization

4. Make your choice

Meta Accounts Center for privacy settings

To protect your photos on WhatsApp

1. Adjust Privacy Settings:

   • Go to Settings > Account > Privacy.

   • Set your profile photo, status, and last seen to My Contacts or Nobody for better control over who can see your information.

2. Disable Automatic Downloads:

   • Go to Settings > Storage and Data.

   • Under Media Auto-Download, set options for When using mobile data, When connected on Wi-Fi, and When roaming to No Media to prevent automatic downloads of photos from chats.

3. Manage Your Gallery Visibility:

   • On Android: Go to File Manager > WhatsApp > Media > WhatsApp Images and create a .nomedia file to prevent these images from appearing in your gallery.

   • On iOS: You can control whether WhatsApp photos appear in your camera roll through Settings > Privacy > Photos.

4. Use Disappearing Messages:

   • In chats, enable Disappearing Messages to ensure that photos sent and received are automatically deleted after a set time.

   
   

   Take a few minutes today to review your privacy settings and ensure your photos are safe from unwanted exposure.