Facebook Data

Facebook has found itself in hot water recently with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and new details about how it harvests data from its users. While there’s plenty to talk about with regards to the scandal, for me what’s been the most surprising is the fact that so many people are astonished that Facebook has been collecting data on its users and using that data to make money. I could swear that was an open secret for a long time, but apparently there are tons of people who didn’t know this. Every click, every like, every photo, and everything else you do on Facebook builds the user profile that Facebook uses to target you with ads. I had always figured that anyone ought to be able to put 2 and 2 together and realize that Facebook has to somehow make a profit in order to stay in business, and if the platform is free that obviously that means Facebook is monetizing its own user base, but I guess I was wrong in that assumption.