Facebook can follow you anywhere on the Internet without being held accountable, this being the conclusion that can be drawn from a recent court decision in the USA. An American judge dismissed a lawsuit in which users accused Facebook of following them anywhere on the Internet, even when they are logged out of the social network.
This is possible thanks to all the content sharing buttons on websites on the Facebook social network. The vast majority of websites have buttons that allow content sharing within Facebook, and through them, and not only, Facebook monitors everyone's activity, even if they are no longer logged into the social network.
Although this is known to everyone and has been demonstrated, the judge stated that the petitioners did not demonstrate that Facebook must respect their privacy. Moreover, he states that it has not been demonstrated that this monitoring done by Facebook outside its own website would have had any negative economic impact on the petitioners.
Facebook can track you anywhere on the internet without consequences
The lawyers of the disgruntled users failed to prove that Facebook violated federal privacy and internet traffic interception laws. They stated that the storage of Facebook cookies in the users' browsers allowed them to be tracked on the Internet, but the judge was of the opinion that the users could keep their history secret by deleting the cookies.
The judge stated that those cookies did not transmit information only to Facebook, but also to the websites accessed, so it cannot be proven that only Facebook took data. Without proving all of the above, the petitioners were left without the possibility of suing Facebook for the same accusations, so it is unlikely that anyone else will do it again very soon.
"A US judge has dismissed nationwide litigation accusing Facebook Inc of tracking users' internet activity even after they logged out of the social media website. In a decision late on Friday, US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California said the plaintiffs failed to show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy, or that they suffered any "realistic" economic harm or loss."
Facebook, like Google, has been repeatedly accused of tracking users all over the Internet using the share and like buttons on various websites. The reality is that yes, Facebook can retrieve information about anyone using them, but users can also protect themselves by deleting cookies, blocking them, using DoNotTrack options, etc., so there are options for everyone.
Facebook owns the largest social network on the planet, with over 2 billion users, so it follows about a third of the planet's population on the entire Internet. No one will ever be able to force Facebook to change its practices, no matter how many lawsuits are filed against the company.