Social media has completely revolutionized the way we communicate today. It's now possible to express ideas without significant restrictions, but this freedom comes at a price. Sometimes people view old posts and find themselves in compromising situations.
There are times when individuals feel they needlessly lose jobs due to some posts they uploaded previously. And nowadays, we witness the cancel culture, with many individuals ruining their reputations due to past deeds.
Thus, many people believe that if they delete posts, photos, or comments from the internet, they will be removed permanently. Sadly, certain things have a way of resurfacing to cause trouble.
Why isn't everything deleted?
Nothing in life is permanent. Or is it? There are things that will last a lifetime. Even if you, say, delete a comment in less than a minute. It is possible that someone will screenshot what you had written. And then, that information might exist on that person’s device forever.
However, it is not the only way for your data to stay around. Websites and services have different information storage guidelines. For instance, deleting a post does not mean that its copy does not exist on a server somewhere.
So, everything you put onto the web might stay there forever. Are you ready for that? Before posting, always consider whether you might regret it 10 years from now. If you think yes, discard the post.
Social media policies are changing all of the time because these are now controlled mainly through private corporations. They want to keep the usage habits of their users as profitable as they possibly can. Still, most companies allow users to delete their accounts and wipe their data off the company's servers after an account holder passes away.
Moreover, some people believe if you post something on the internet, you're putting information out there for the world to see. This means that it is now public data, making it impossible for your posts to disappear entirely. You can delete anything from your profiles, but as mentioned earlier, someone somewhere will always have a copy of what was once posted online.
When you post something on social media like Facebook or Twitter (News - Alert), those companies also hold onto copies of every single post you've made with them over time. They use your past comments and thoughts to improve their algorithms and track down new ads based on your previous posts.
How do companies store customer data?
If you are anxious about your privacy, it is advisable to post only those things that would not put you in trouble. The companies collect all the data from customers because they need it for analysis and other purposes.
They also came up with different policies regarding sharing or saving customers' private information once they visited their website. To maintain a healthy relationship between them and their customers, they prefer sharing personal information of customers who visit their site regularly. Thus, the more active customers on social media sites have more benefits over others.
Furthermore, there is a reason why many people ditch social media. In other cases, users install a VPN to ensure the safe exchange of information online. After all, a Virtual Private Network reroutes all internet traffic and encrypts it. Then, barely anyone can see and monitor what you do. For instance, a VPN will also help prevent your IP address from showing. Instead, you will receive a new one associated with the VPN server you have connected.
So now you must be thinking the following things.
Is social media private?
Everything you share on social media platforms will remain accessible in one way or another. It might not be visible directly, but servers can hold onto data for longer. Moreover, sharing your private information with these sites may even put you in a compromising situation.
So, if you are not that comfortable sharing your details, don't post anything online which can harm or trouble anyone who sees it. If you do so, nobody can help you because neither the site nor its users control what others view after publicly sharing something.
How do companies treat customer data?
In the past few years, the companies have been using customer data for product promotion and marketing purposes. In some cases, they have also developed different policies to share user information with a third party and government agencies.
It is evident that social media sites are not trustworthy when it comes to protecting your private information because every company wants to increase its profit by any means. For example, they sell old posts containing the personal details of customers without their consent. Thus, making it almost impracticable for them to delete anything online permanently.
Therefore, to avoid being a victim of a security breach in the future, one must use common sense while posting photos or sharing any information in the public domain; otherwise, you will be forced to regret your decision later on. The company stores your information forever unless you change privacy settings or ask them to delete it. But chances are significantly less for the scenario that they will remove anything without a valid reason.
