Facebook as a platform is losing its sheen, and yet another report from a credible source confirms this.
Meanwhile, a German court has ruled that Facebook is illegally using and storing their users’ data. This judgement can have some far-reaching consequences for the social media giant.
We will soon tell you why!
21 Lakh Young Users Will Ditch Facebook In 2018
eMarketer has published a report, where it predicts doomsday for Facebook.
As per them, 2.1 million young users will ditch Facebook in 2018; although this is a minuscule number compared to their 2 billion users globally.
But nonetheless, a very strong warning sign.
We should take this report seriously because last year, eMarketer had predicted that 3.4% of Facebook users in the age group of 12 to 17 years will leave the social network.
And the reality was even worse: between the 12 and 17 years demographic, Facebook reported a 9.9% decline in userbase, as 50 million hours of usage was eroded last year.
As per latest eMarketer report, in 2018, 2.1 million or 21 lakh users under the age of 25 will leave Facebook.
These young users are now preferring newer platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, and partially, this is good news for Facebook as at least Instagram is owned by them.
But, will Facebook die a silent death in coming years?
German Court: Facebook Is Illegally Using Your Data!
A Berlin regional court had given a judgement against Facebook’s privacy policies, and the verdict is clear: Facebook is illegally using their users’ data, and privacy is being mercilessly killed here.
This was shared by The Federation of German Consumer Organisations, which is a German Consumer Rights Group.
As per the verdict by the Court, Facebook is not adequately informing their users about the privacy issues, and in ethical terms, a proper consent is never sought.
Heiko Duenkel, litigation policy officer at the consumer rights group said,
“Facebook hides default settings that are not privacy-friendly in its privacy centre and does not provide sufficient information about it when users register,”
In their response, Facebook said,
“We are working hard to ensure that our guidelines are clear and easy to understand and that the services offered by Facebook are in full accordance with the law,”
This can have some serious, long-term consequences for both Facebook and Whatsapp, as privacy issues are mounting worldwide; and this court order can be used to fight these cases, and maybe defeat them as well.
We have already shared that Whatsapp has one of the worst privacy policies in the world, and in India, an ugly face-off has already happened on this issue.
After Delhi High Court found fault in Whatsapp’s privacy policies and asked Govt. to respond, there was a huge uproar over this issue.
Whatsapp had to say that no one is forcing users to be on their platform, and this summarized their frustration on this issue. Facebook even said that users who are not happy with Whatsapp can stop using it!
At a time when 70% of mobile apps will share your private data with 3rd parties, and young geeks are able to hack these portals easily, privacy issues have become one of the most crucial aspects of social media.
It will be interesting to observe how this recent German court’s ruling will affect the whole story.
We will keep you updated.