It has recently been discovered that Facebook for Android users has been scraping information like your call and text history. It should be noted that Facebook made no attempt to hide this and that it was a permission that Android users actually granted the app, although the argument is that how would the average user know what kind of permissions an app or does not need to begin with.However the good news is that if you’re uncomfortable with Facebook having this kind of information, you’ll be pleased to learn that Facebook has since announced some changes that they’re making to data access, such as how your call and text history is being stored for users who have opted-in with the feature.
According to Facebook, “We’ve reviewed this feature to confirm that Facebook does not collect the content of messages — and will delete all logs older than one year. In the future, the client will only upload to our servers the information needed to offer this feature — not broader data such as the time of calls.”
Facebook also explains the reason behind the use of call and text history by saying, “Call and text history is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android. This means we can surface the people you most frequently connect with at the top of your contact list.” We suppose that’s good news for users moving forwards, but in the meantime the company is facing a lawsuit over it.