Have you ever been talking with someone in a private setting about a personal matter only to see an ad pop up on social media pertaining to that personal matter? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denies that Facebook “listens” to your conversations, but there is plenty of anecdotal data to contradict that. There are even instructions on how to prevent apps like Facebook from listening to you (On Android, I went to Settings > Apps > Facebook > Permissions > Microphone to off).

The hits keep coming for Facebook. Recently criticized for privacy issues related to Russian hacking and and banning accounts that dare to deviate from the narrow elite-accepted political spectrum, a new story comes out regarding privacy.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

[Facebook] has asked large U.S. banks to share detailed financial information about their customers, including card transactions and checking-account balances, as part of an effort to offer new services to users.

Facebook increasingly wants to be a platform where people buy and sell goods and services, besides connecting with friends. The company over the past year asked JPMorgan Chase JPM 0.03% & Co., Wells Fargo WFC 0.10% & Co., Citigroup Inc. C 0.01% and U.S. Bancorp USB 0.04% to discuss potential offerings it could host for bank customers on Facebook Messenger, said people familiar with the matter.

You may appreciate this type of personalized advertising. But if you don’t, it appears that, unlike the eavesdropping apps, this feature can’t be turned off. The best thing you can do to prevent this type of abuse of privacy is to dump your Facebook account altogether.

There are mounting reasons to get rid of your major social media accounts. If you aren’t ready for complete radio-silence, however, there are alternatives. Here are some:

Network: https://catholicx.com/
Messaging: https://gab.ai/
Search: https://duckduckgo.com/
Video: https://www.bitchute.com/
Blog: https://steemit.com/
Forum: https://traditianforum.wordpress.com/
Fundraising: https://catholicx.com/

Please comment on how you plan on protecting your privacy in this brave new world.