Facebook Vietnam denies selling user information to third parties

Facebook is accused of collecting users' call and text data.

Specifically, according to Facebook, storing call and text message history is part of the Opt-in feature of the Messenger or Facebook Lite app on the Android platform. This helps users find and connect with people you care about, giving you a better experience on Facebook.

Users have the choice to opt in to this feature. At any time, if they no longer wish to use this feature, they can turn it off in the settings, or via this link for Facebook Lite users, and all call and text history previously shared through the app they use will be deleted. While Facebook receives certain permissions from Android, uploading this information is always a user choice.

Facebook Vietnam representative also said that Facebook introduced this feature to Android users many years ago. Uploading contacts is quite common when using social networking applications and services. This is a way to easily find people that users want to connect with.

The feature was first introduced on Messenger in 2015 and was later made available as an option in Facebook Lite, a lightweight version of Facebook for the Android platform.

Many applications require permission to access a lot of user information, hackers take advantage of Facebook's vulnerabilities to gain these permissions.

Accordingly, when users sign up for Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android or log into Messenger on an Android device, they will be given the option to continuously upload contacts as well as call and message history. For Messenger, users can turn on this feature, choose "learn more" or "not now".

On Facebook Lite, the options are "enable" or "ignore" respectively. If users choose to enable this feature, Facebook will start storing this information continuously, and they can download it at any time using the Download Your Information tool.

Facebook says that at any time, users can easily turn off the feature in their settings if they no longer want to continue uploading this information. Users can also turn off call and text logs while still uploading contacts. They can also go to this page to see the list of contacts they have uploaded from Messenger and can delete all of that contact information right from the app they are using.

"Facebook never sells data and this feature does not collect the content of users' text messages or calls. Users' information is stored securely and Facebook does not sell this information to third parties," a Facebook Vietnam representative said in a written response to the press.

Previously, two famous newspapers in the UK and the US, the New York Times and the Guardian, simultaneously reported with evidence that Facebook had allowed a research company called Cambridge Analytica to steal information from 50 million user accounts.

Specifically, Cambridge Analytica acquired user data from a Cambridge University lecturer - Aleksandr Kogan. Kogan collected user information through a survey application made for academic research purposes - thisisyourdigitallife. The application asked users to grant access to their personal profiles, locations...

At the same time, Cambridge Analytica is said to have used data from 50 million Facebook users to advise Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

The incident has created a wave of protests and calls for a boycott of Facebook in many countries around the world in recent days. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the scandal of leaking user data and announced his readiness to testify before the US Congress about this incident.