Did you know that you have a Facebook profile even if you don’t ?

Yes, Facebook has a profile on you whether you know it or not. Even if you have never signed up for Facebook or Instagram or WhatsApp (which they are owned by Facebook). They maintain a shadow profile of everyone who is not on their system.

There are many methods to build your shadow profile:

• List of contact: if you have friends who have your contact in their list in their phones. When they download any of the Facebook apps, those apps get to their contact list. In there, there is your phone number which is your unique identity number, your email (maybe), your street address (maybe) your picture and all get to aggregated into a single profile. So Facebook not only know that personal information about you, it know everybody you know because he got you from their contact list. Facebook can use that to build you a Facebook profile with your interest.
• Pictures : It can use your photo in the help of the artificial recognition to find other photos on you on Facebook.

All of this occurs without your consent or knowledge. And the only way to control the data they have on you and get Facebook to delete it is is to “sign up”. As such, you need to give up more personal information to see your profile.

Is this a rumor or a fact?

Unfortunately, it is a fact. In the privacy policy, under the section “Networks and Connections,” Facebook says:

“We also collect contact information if you choose to upload, sync or import it from a device (such as an address book or call log or SMS log history), which we use for things like helping you and others find people you may know and for the other purposes listed below.”

And under the section “Things others do and information they provide about you,” Facebook states:

“We also receive and analyze content, communications, and information that other people provide when they use our Products. This can include information about you, such as when others share or comment on a photo of you, send a message to you, or upload, sync or import your contact information.”