Facebook Dating

Let's be honest, Facebook has a long history of betraying users' privacy and trust. They've faced record fines (remember that $5 billion dollar fine for privacy failures?) and have been caught hiding privacy breaches from their users. Now they're asking people to give them even more personal information to help them find love. What could go wrong? Given Facebook's terrible track record, we're worried a lot. Facebook Dating isn't a seperate app, it is part of the general Facebook app, and it is well established that the Facebook app tracks a whole lot of user information like when you visit a coffee shop (if you don't turn off location sharing) and what is going on in the photos you share. Add in the additional personal data you share to create your Facebook Dating profile like gender identity and if you smoke, and now Facebook has even more personal information on you they can use for somewhat questionably ethical ad targeting practices. The question becomes, does Facebook have your best interests at heart when it collects all the data their dating service is capable of collecting? In the past—from Cambridge Analytica and beyond—the answer to that question has way too often been, NO. There's a reason Facebook Dating is free, you're paying for it with your privacy.