Every once in a while we see a notice like this on our feeds:
"STOP: Please re-post this copyright claim on your Facebook in order to protect the photos and property of your profile. You will lose control of all your pictures, information and status updates, writing and all other materials you post. They will become property of Facebook if you continue. This status protects me and my immediate circle of friends from any copy-written claims of ownership. Please pass on."
Or
"You will now have to pay 5.99 per month for your Facebook account. Re-paste this status to show you will leave the platform if this happens."
Immediately, people are thrown into a tailspin, furiously copying and pasting these messages to their feeds. And the group-think mentality of paranoia ensues.
Do not fall for this. It's a hoax!
Deception and paranoia in the social media sphere is cyclical. Last time this happened in January people ended up mass deleting their profiles, receding into a black hole of delusion where only alien life and conspiracy theories exist.
Don't be one of these loonies.
Mainstream media has not reported any such claim from Facebook. There would have been a big report on TV or online from a reputable source backing it up if there was any truth involved.
Your shit is your shit, but if you put it online, it's there forever. Remember that instead.
Have you fallen for this before? What do you think is the root of this?
Are people bored? Or do they really think their online safety is at stake. Are the hippies of yesterday globing on to fake internet fodder and internet freedom as if they were claims of civil outcry?
I'm not sure.
So just scroll past that garbage and get on with your day.
This has been a friendly PSA from me, the most hateful social media critic you know.
;)
Good luck out there, bye!