Facebook Messenger Adds New Admin Privileges Amid Backlash Over Company's Mishandling of User Data

[MacRumors]

Facebook today announced the rollout of a new feature in Messenger called "Admin Privileges." With this toggled on, the company said that it will give specific users in a group chat "more control" over who partakes in the chat, and should help boost the app's privacy.

If you have admin privileges you'll be able to approve or decline new members before they join the chat, remove members already in a chat, and promote or demote any other person as an admin. The company said that the feature should help large groups who need to get in touch but may not be connected to on Facebook, like for a friend's surprise party.

There are also new joinable links that any member can create and send out to potential new members, which an admin will then be able to approve. These admin privileges will be turned off by default:

The great thing about admin privileges in Messenger is they work in the background; if your group chat doesn't need that level of control, it won't get in the way of your group messaging. You'll have the option to decide if you'd like admin approval for approving new members, but this preference is off by default in your group chat settings.

Today's Facebook Messenger update launches at the same time that Facebook is facing immense scrutiny for its involvement with consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which itself has been tied to President Trump's 2016 election campaign. According to recent reports, the firm improperly amassed information from 50 million Facebook users without their consent and used that data to "target messages to voters."

In the wake of these reports, investigations have been opened into Facebook's actions and several politicians have asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about the events. A new "#DeleteFacebook" campaign has now launched on Twitter, which WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton took part in. Facebook owns WhatsApp, but Acton left the company earlier in 2018 to start his own non-profit organization.

A Facebook spokesperson mentioned that the company was "deceived" by Cambridge Analytica and didn't know about its actions. One Facebook shareholder, Fan Yuan, has filed a lawsuit against the company alleging it had some knowledge of Cambridge Analytica's data siphoning and made "materially false and/or misleading" claims regarding the company's handling of user data.

"The entire company is outraged we were deceived," the statement continued. "We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information and will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens."

As the scandal continues to grow, the Federal Trade Commission has also begun looking into whether Facebook potentially "violated an agreement with the agency." Zuckerberg has yet to comment on the issue.

Back in January, Facebook announced a series of privacy-focused updates, which were planned for a rollout ahead of a May 25 deadline for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU. At the time, Facebook also revealed a new overhaul for the news feed that would favor friends and family posts over publishers. Zuckerberg said that this update would lessen the time its users spend on Facebook, but cause the time to "be more valuable."

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Facebook Messenger Adds New Admin Privileges Amid Backlash Over Company's Mishandling of User Data

 

[ericgtr12]

Facebook's sole purpose is to propagate information in a very detailed way, the fact that it's so easily attainable should be no surprise to anyone. In its own way it's a streamlined Trojan Horse.

 

[brian3uk]

Sorry macrumors but this feature has nothing to do with their data collection and use troubles. They're still gonna harvest all your chat data to sell you socks and ac filters.

 

[EdT]

Considering the denials for years about data breeches and manipulation how am I to believe this feature doesn’t come with its own hooks and privacy problems that FaceBook may know about and could use to sell data using mining or allowing 3rd party access to privacy information?

 

[stylinexpat]

If when you go out to buy a smartphone you see that it comes with Facebook preinstalled on it with no uninstall option then do not buy it. Do not buy the BS crap that it can be disabled. If it comes bundled in then do not buy it. Once everyone boycotts these smartphones with Facebook bundled in they will get the picture. Luckily Apple does not bundle them in on iPhones, China bans them and Blackberry does not bundle them in either. Sony Ericsson,LG and Samsung to name a few do though which is very bad. No uninstall option on them either so stay away from those smartphones

 

[harriska2]

Unhooked from facebook yesterday.

 

[thebeans]

Is Facebook still a thing?

 

[now i see it]

FB needs to disappear entirely.

 

[JosephAW]

Messenger is such a mess. Nice that they are adding administrative features but too late for me I've left.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

While i am a give fan of saving money i saw (as well as many others) that Facebook Co. was attempting to make a profit from all available avenues.
Things that appear to be free are often the most costly.

 

[madsci954]

One of the best decisions I’ve ever made was deleting my Facebook account. I have had zero desire to go back.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

If when you go out to buy a smartphone you see that it comes with Facebook preinstalled on it with no uninstall option then do not buy it. Do not buy the BS crap that it can be disabled. If it comes bundled in then do not buy it. Sony Ericsson,LG and Samsung to name a few do though which is very bad. No uninstall option on them either so stay away from those smartphones

Bloatware Creeps into Android
"It's different from phone to phone and operator to operator," says Keith Nowak, spokesman for HTC. "But in general, the apps are put there to meet the operator's business and revenue needs."

 

[ericgtr12]

Unhooked from facebook yesterday.

For me it was years ago. I'm sure that person from high school that never liked me 20 years ago and now wants to be my "friend" will be disappointed.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

There should be massive stories on all media outlets to just drop facebook/twitter, etc. Turn these companies worthless if they screw people the way they have been.

 

[Orlandoech]

There should be massive stories on all media outlets to just drop facebook/twitter, etc. Turn these companies worthless if they screw people the way they have been.

The MSM is for mass surveillance and data harvesting to push their narratives.

 

[stylinexpat]

Bloatware Creeps into Android
"It's different from phone to phone and operator to operator," says Keith Nowak, spokesman for HTC. "But in general, the apps are put there to meet the operator's business and revenue needs."

When they sell their customers away they should be boycotted. Luckily for us at Apple is that Apple has not done this or at least yet thank God..

 

[nutmac]

Too frigging unnecessarily complicated.

When I use Facebook, I get paranoid as to what exactly will be published to the timeline and ultimately shared. So I am afraid to change even a small things like where I live.

So I use Facebook more as a lurker.

 

[EdT]

To everyone saying Facebook needs to go away: That won’t even begin to solve the problem as long as you don’t own your own information. Whatever app replaces Facebook will have the same problems with privacy and abuse. Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram have all had similar privacy and targeted manipulation problems, just not on the same scale. That we know about.

Since all of these companies (and more) claim that they own this information (about you) and have rights to manipulate and sell it as they see fit then whatever becomes popular after Facebook can and will be targeted the same way for the same reason.

And just try to get a bill passed about a person owning their digital data. Every online company you have ever heard of will campaign against it. And they have a lot more money and direct lobbying power.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

When they sell their customers away they should be boycotted. Luckily for us at Apple is that Apple has not done this or at least yet thank God..

As far as we know, Apple Co. has not done something like this. All we can do is hope that they don't change their "Terms of Service."

 

[fairuz]

The article doesn't really make sense. This feature is totally unrelated to the privacy issues.

 

[LizKat]

As far as we know, Apple Co. has not done something like this. All we can do is hope that they don't change their "Terms of Service."

Cat's out of the bag a long time now when a zillion companies have harvested every byte of data about any of us anywhere and will sell it on to someone who rents some mailing list and merges the two and parks that somewhere to be sold on later...

Meanwhile Equifax shrugs off its embarrassment and is still standing, even if individual states plan to take it on now that the feds have said "hey i dunno how bad was it really, let's wrap this investigation and move on." And that's because the feds have been hacked to death also.

And vendors willingly supply game for the hunters.... Haven't you noticed the level of detail now provided in your routine emails or texts about your next invoice from your regular suppliers of goods and services? Time was you signed up for an "invoice available" notice and the thing was generic and the only thing tagging you in the document was your email address or phone number. "Dear customer your utility bill is available for viewing."

Now the notice has our name, address, phone number, what we bought or used, date of prior bill, when we paid, how much we owe, next payment date, and of course a convenient link to check our credit score if we (or the hacker) wishes.

And it's sad to think of how much effort some of us put into obfuscating personal details like birth dates... since entire government databases have been hacked, so why take some social media site's version of a birthdate for a global synthesis of info about us, when the hacker can just look it up off a hacked source to which we better not have told a lie.

Tim and Apple could be data privacy saints and still the only thing that's not already out there about me that Apple knows might be something extremely apple-centric like "how long did she stare at the blue refurb iPod before she finally caved in and bought it?"

 

[fairuz]

While i am a give fan of saving money i saw (as well as many others) that Facebook Co. was attempting to make a profit from all available avenues.
Things that appear to be free are often the most costly.

At no point did I expect Facebook was not giving away my "private" info. So at no point did I put info there that's actually private. And I happily use it for the groups, events, and messaging because it works great for that. If it didn't exist, something else that provides the same benefits (and probably similar downsides) would.
[doublepost=1521654738][/doublepost]

And it's sad to think of how much effort some of us put into obfuscating personal details like birth dates... since entire government databases have been hacked, so why take some social media site's version of a birthdate for a global synthesis of info about us, when the hacker can just look it up off a hacked source to which we better not have told a lie.

Exactly. I gave up any hope of my middle name, birthdate, phone number, address, and even SSN being private once I had to give it out to a bunch of retarded govt workers and landlords for identity verification.

I get multiple spam calls a day. I've had spear phishers claiming to be the IRS call me with a spoofed IRS number, say they're sending police to my address unless I pay, and tell me my actual address. Facebook is on the very bottom of my worries list.
[doublepost=1521655099][/doublepost]

There should be massive stories on all media outlets to just drop facebook/twitter, etc. Turn these companies worthless if they screw people the way they have been.

I don't care about FB surviving, but I'd rather see the media outlets become worthless. They've all turned to crap anyway, if they ever were good.

 

[Karma*Police]

FB is not going away, nor should it. It's the only viable platform for social on a mass scale, and we're social animals. They can improve some things, sure, but more importantly, the things that are playing out on FB should be a wake up call for everyone to see how discordant, hate-filled and distrusting society has become. After all, these shenanigans (propaganda, fake news, misleading the masses, etc.) have been going on for millenniums for crying out loud. Deleting FB won't fix society's problems.

The negative spotlight is on FB now cos, well, it's their turn.. and the media (which has every reason to hate FB) is stirring up a frenzy. This "breach", if you can even call it that, is nowhere near as bad as the Equifax breach yet people have moved on and in a few weeks, this too will be old news.

Popularity breeds contempt. Apple endured it with those stories about child labor, farming jobs to China, locking users into their walled garden and taking away user choice, etc., and it's only a matter of time before Amazon (today's favorite) feels the backlash/wrath of the media and users. If you don't think that's possible, just look at what they're doing with Alexa and harvesting people's data, selling our browsing/consumption habits to sell to advertisers, not to mention all the retail jobs that are being lost and the fewer retail options we have as a result of their "sell things near cost and put others out of business then raise prices later" strategy.

 

[v0lume4]

If when you go out to buy a smartphone you see that it comes with Facebook preinstalled on it with no uninstall option then do not buy it. Do not buy the BS crap that it can be disabled. If it comes bundled in then do not buy it. Once everyone boycotts these smartphones with Facebook bundled in they will get the picture. Luckily Apple does not bundle them in on iPhones, China bans them and Blackberry does not bundle them in either. Sony Ericsson,LG and Samsung to name a few do though which is very bad. No uninstall option on them either so stay away from those smartphones

Um, what?! I wasn't even aware this was a thing.

Wow, I wouldn't touch those phones with a stick. That's crazy.

 

[fairuz]

If when you go out to buy a smartphone you see that it comes with Facebook preinstalled on it with no uninstall option then do not buy it. Do not buy the BS crap that it can be disabled. If it comes bundled in then do not buy it. Once everyone boycotts these smartphones with Facebook bundled in they will get the picture. Luckily Apple does not bundle them in on iPhones, China bans them and Blackberry does not bundle them in either. Sony Ericsson,LG and Samsung to name a few do though which is very bad. No uninstall option on them either so stay away from those smartphones

Just wait for Internet connections that only let you use Facebook, or rather let you use other things but only for a high fee. Which reminds me... after saying how much I don't hate FB, I remember that I do cause of their side project http://internet.org