Delete
Even as I write this, I am deleting my Facebook profile. It’s been coming for a while, but the Cambridge Analytica revelations of today were the final straw. I feel so stupid: why did I feel that I could share so much of myself without that information being used against me? I doubt that I personally have been targeted by Cambridge Analytica - obviously I couldn’t have voted for Trump even if I’d wanted to (ha!), and an algorithm doesn’t have to be too smart to figure out that a left wing half-French woman living in the Netherlands is unlikely to vote Brexit. But there’s no way of knowing how else my data has been used, how I have been manipulated, how companies have used me as a Trojan horse to get to my friends. And of course the thing about being skillfully manipulated is that you don’t notice it’s happening.
None of this has come as a complete surprise. I’ve ignored it out of convenience, because Facebook is useful and fun. But when I looked up how to delete my account, Facebook advised me first to download the data associated with it, and directed me to a link that provided me with a list of what sort of data that is. Check it out. It’s incredibly sobering when laid out like that: there’s so much of it and I was giving it away to any old What Good Place Character Are You test wanted it. (When I did the What Good Place Character Are You test, I got Jason, the idiotic, naive character; under the circumstances, I can hardly complain.) I have to admit that my blood ran cold when I saw Cambridge Analytica were using personality tests to get at people’s data; those sorts of tests have been catnip for me ever since I could hold a biro and a copy of Just 17.
So off it goes. I’ve moved the journals and companies I follow over to Twitter, which - I don’t know, is that also idiotic? The thing about Twitter is that I have always considered it a public place and have accordingly been warier about what information I put on there, whereas Facebook gave me the illusion of privacy - part of me was always reassured by the idea that I was only sharing with friends. I’m aware of how difficult it is to actually delete a Facebook account so I will be intrigued to discover whether this works - from my research it will be reactivated any time that I accidentally use an app that I have given permission to access Facebook (why? why? SO LAZY). Facebook Messenger will also go, obviously, and there will be a handful of people who can’t contact me any more, but I shouldn’t be too hard for real friends to track down.
Do I feel sad? No. Is it the end of an era? Yes. Am I locking the stable door after the Trojan horse has bolted? Certainly. This post will go up on Facebook, and linger until my account is gone, so it’s my final farewell, until they find a way to suck me back in via some random website I once used it to log into. So goodbye Facebook, it was sort of nice knowing you, and I really hope we never meet again.
