I'm pretty sure Mastodon is the first social network I've been on that didn't immediately ask me to betray all of the people in my address book.
I mean, think about this for just a sec: LinkedIn, Twitter, SnapChat, Instagram, the list goes on and on. The VERY first thing these platforms will do after you've installed the app and logged in is to ask you to share all of the information in your address book. Ever wonder how these social networks got so big so fast? It's remarkable how much of their growth is based on convincing everyone it's totally fine and normal to give away all of the contact information given to them by friends, family and acquaintances.
@briankrebs The one & only reason I refuse to use or even install those apps on devices containing address information. I only have an Instagram app on a tablet with zero contacts.
Even if you have never been registered on Facebook etc.: Facebook knows your mobile number and mail address because other people have already uploaded them.
You can delete your phone number/mail address from meta's database via the following website:
@fomm @jurjen_heeck @briankrebs Um, ten years ago, Facebook stated that they never, ever delete anything. Deleting your account, which I did eleven years ago does nothing but de-activate the account. Nothing is deleted. Facebook said that its systems are designed in such a way that they are unable to actually delete anything, nor any mechanisms in place to enable them to determine what needed to be deleted.
Deletion is not a thing at Facebook.
