Maybe it would be easier to start with a list of data Facebook doesn’t have.
Last week, New York Magazine reported that several users had found videos they thought they’d deleted when they downloaded their Facebook data archive. Facebook has now apologized for the retention of videos that were never made public, blaming it on a “bug” and calling the glitch unintentional. In a statement, the company assured users that they were in the process of deleting the old videos.
The videos in question were taken when Facebook allowed users to shoot videos directly from a browser. Even un-published videos were kept by the social media company, reigniting old questions about the company’s ability to monitor the posts that users decide not to share. The browser video tool, now defunct, worked by streaming videos to Facebook as they were being recorded, rather than after they were posted, hence the purgatory of un-posted videos.
In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, users are taking more of an interest in the data Facebook has been storing on them for years. Many have discovered just how many apps they’ve linked to Facebook, and Android users have learned that the social network has been keeping track of their call and SMS logs.