Facebook under fire for phone number look-up feature

according to Jeremy Burge, chief emoji officer at emoji-reference website Emojipedia, shared a screenshot of the phone number look-up setting over the weekend, sparking backlash from other Facebook users. He tweeted : "For years Facebook claimed the adding a phone number for 2FA was only for security. For example, users could upload their mobile phone contacts to Facebook to search for friends or message a phone number on the Messenger app. If people choose to implement two-factor authentication with a phone number, they must add the number to their Facebook profile. Last year, Gizmodo reported that when Facebook users entered a phone number for two-factor authentication or to get alerts about new log-ins to their account, advertisers were able to target that number.

The phone number that secures your Facebook account isn't as safe as you think

For years Facebook claimed the adding a phone number for 2FA was only for security. pic.twitter.com/zpYhuwADMS — Jeremy Burge 🐥🧿 (@jeremyburge) March 1, 2019But there is no option to make the phone number completely private. While phone numbers may not be used in the Facebook search tool, there are other ways of looking up people using their phone numbers. How to secure your Facebook and other accountsThe Facebook privacy revelation isn't the first-time the security of two-factor authentication has been questioned as a viable security tool. The good news for consumers wary of handing over their phone number to Facebook: Since last May the company has not required a phone number to sign up for two-factor authentication.

Facebook isn't doing a great job protecting the phone number you gave it

as informed in Facebook is under fire again for arguably misusing user data, this time related to the phone numbers that many of us provided as a way of adding a two-factor authentication layer to our profiles. The problem is that Facebook is apparently using those phone numbers for the purpose we intended (account security), but also, well, for other things. In one of his tweets, Jeremy includes a menu of options from Facebook showing that users do have some choices about who's allowed to look them up by their phone numbers. https://t.co/CzDyuRInBU — Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) March 2, 2019Facebook offered a response about this to TechCrunch, explaining that choosing who can look you up by your phone number isn't a new setting. The great money-making engine of advertising, in other words, is apparently too important to let a thing like a user's protectiveness of their phone number get in the way.

Facebook lets you look up profiles by phone number provided for 2FA

That means if a user's setting allows "everyone" to look them up by phone number, even a person without a Facebook account could find their page on the site. The concern around Facebook's use of phone numbers follows its plans to further integrate its messaging services across Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. In April 2018, we removed the ability to enter another person's phone number or email address into the Facebook search bar to help find someone's profile. Since May 2018, Facebook has removed the requirement of adding a phone number to set up two-factor identification (2FA). In September, Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch that it uses phone numbers provided for 2FA for ad targeting after Gizmodo reported that numbers provided for 2FA "became targetable by an advertiser within a couple weeks."

collected by :Roy Mark