Facebook Privacy: Everything you need to know about your Facebook rights

Impact

Facebook boasts 1.79 billion monthly active users, as of Sep. 30, 2016, and knowing how privacy works on the platform is essential. While some privacy settings are straightforward and intuitive (e.g. blocking, hiding status updates), others are not. Below are five things to know about your Facebook rights — from who really owns your uploaded content to how to tackle an impersonation account.

How to keep your Messenger conversations private

Frequent users of Facebook Messenger can have a "secret conversation" on the messaging platform by opting in for end-to-end encryption. This is not a default setting and by selecting an encrypted conversation, users can ensure their thread is private. This feature is only available for mobile users.

How to find out who owns your Facebook content 

When you upload content to Facebook, you own the copyright. But they also give Facebook the right to use the content. "Yes, you retain the copyright to your content," reads the Facebook website. "When you upload your content, you grant us a license to use and display that content." Phew. 

How to remove a tagged image someone else has posted on Facebook

If a user has been tagged in an image they're not happy about, they can always untag themselves and request the owner of the image to remove the picture. And if the photograph can be considered to be abusive, then it can be reported to Facebook. But if the image isn't abusive, there's not much else the subject in the photograph can do aside from asking the individual who posted the image to take it down.

How to stop Facebook impersonators

If an account is impersonating someone, then users have the option to report the fake and unauthorized account. According to Facebook, users can report a fake account by visiting the page of the impersonated account or filling out a form.

How to control ads on Facebook

Visiting the Facebook Ads settings page allows users to customize how their account interacts with ads. For instance, users can customize whether they can see online interest-based ads, whether their ad preferences are used to show ads on apps and websites and whether people in their social network can see their social actions with ads.