Facebook has a creepy data file on you - here's how to see it

Facebook has been having a real bad old time lately. The social media network has been widely blamed for not doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation during the 2016 presidential election and high-profile backers have been pulling their investments.

And critics will probably be more than a little creeped out to learn just how much data Facebook keeps on its users. You can access Facebook’s file on you right now and this is how to do it:

1. Head to Facebook and select Settings

2. Click ‘Download a copy of your Facebook data’

3. Click ‘Download archive’ and wait for Facebook to email you a copy of your file

I downloaded my file and I can confirm it was quite a strange experience. It turns out I joined Facebook on 18 April 2008 at exactly 2.10 in the afternoon. The file turned up weird old photos of people that I now don’t remember and obscure messages about uni work I hadn’t finished.

And here’s some of the other information that the file will reveal:

• Chat - A history of the conversations you’ve had on Facebook Chat (a complete history is available directly from your messages inbox).
• Check-ins - The places you’ve checked into.
• Credit Cards - If you make purchases on Facebook (ex: in apps) and have given Facebook your credit card number.
• Facial Recognition Data - A unique number based on a comparison of the photos you’re tagged in. They use this data to help others tag you in photos.
• IP Addresses - A list of IP addresses where you’ve logged into your Facebook account (won’t include all historical IP addresses as they are deleted according to a retention schedule).
• Phone Numbers - Mobile phone numbers you’ve added to your account, including verified mobile numbers you’ve added for security purposes.
• Political Views - Any information you added to Political Views in the About section of Timeline.
• Searches - Searches you’ve made on Facebook.

And we also recently wrote about how to find out if someone has blocked you on Facebook. Head over here to find out how. 

(Images: Rex / iStock)