Meta has decided to remove from the profiles of Facebook various personal information: political and religious opinions, address and even sexual orientation. The changes will go into effect on December 1 for what Facebook sees as a “simplification” of navigation on the social network.
Facebook removes political (and other) opinions from profiles
The change reported by the social consultant Matt Navarra received official confirmation from a company spokesperson. “As part of our effort to make Facebook easier to navigate and usewe’re removing a number of fields from profiles: Interested in [per l’orientamento sessuale, ndr]Religion, Political Opinions and Address”.
The company also explains that “we will send notifications to people who have filled in these fields, notifying them of the removal. This change it does not affect anyone’s ability to share this information on Facebook.”
Many social networks ignore these fields in their profiles, preferring a simpler approach. Instagram (the other social network of Meta) and TikTok have sectionsthe ‘bio’ very simple which don’t offer great details. And they don’t show the political and religious issues already from the profile.
It should also be emphasized that these sections are less and less “fashionable” in the world of social networks, and were launched by Facebook at a time when privacy was not at the center of the discussion as much. 2022 users it seems less interested in helping with the profiling of their account.
Removing these profiles therefore makes sense for the platform, although some users may see them as an attempt to “erase” their footprint from the social network. But in reality it remains possible to share one’s political or religious opinions in posts or stories.
As any good digital storyteller knows, actions speak louder than profile descriptions: Your friends on the platform probably already know what you think of the latest election from the posts you’ve shared and the likes you’ve given.