NEW YORK — With every like, share and search, Facebook users have been creating a social network version of themselves, and the tech giant has been recording every detail.
For those interested in finding out just what personal data Facebook has been storing, there’s an easy way to find out:
First, you must be on the desktop version of Facebook. Click on the “gear” in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. This opens a drop-down menu. At the bottom of the menu, click on “settings.”
Next, under General Account Settings, click on “download a copy of your Facebook data.”
Once you’ve requested the data, a link will be sent to the email that you used to open Facebook.
You will receive an email with a specific link to download the data that Facebook has collected from you. This may take a little time so be patient.
Once the email arrives, you’ll be taken to the page below that allows you to download the data. Keep in mind, the data contains sensitive information that only you want to have. If you’re doing this on a public computer, you will need to delete the data once you’ve viewed it.
Once the data has finished downloading, you can click to view any of the files.
Some longtime users may be shocked at the number of messages, videos, photos, and websites that are connected to them that Facebook has record of.
