We’re not going to teach you anything by saying that Meta usually knows who you are. Ever since social networks came into our lives – and even before – many of us have more or less voluntarily handed over our personal data to web giants. Via Facebook and Instagram, Meta, of course, is in pole position on the question that even the company can’t say what these groups of information they’re collecting.
Worse still, the firm has also been known to collect data from people who are not even registered on their social networks. This is especially true for phone numbers. So even if you’ve never been interested in one of their services, it’s possible that Meta currently holds your number. Fortunately, it is now possible to check if your number is in the possession of the group and, better yet, delete it from their database.
Why check if Meta knows your phone number?
This may seem obvious to some, but it’s important to remember that Meta generates a large portion of its revenue from the resale of its users’ personal data… Indeed, the company does require its users to access phone contacts on Facebook, Instagram, or even Messenger, so that they can more easily find their official loved ones in the app in question. can ask.
Thanks to this, Meta collects an enormous amount of information both about the 3 billion users gathered across all its services, and about the relatives of the latter. And if the resale of your personal data isn’t an issue that affects you, you should also know that the company’s databases are regularly hacked and therefore many of the phone numbers they contain are leaked.
For example, no less than 533 million users last year saw their phone numbers resold on Telegram after another massive leak. Needless to say, the people who use these numbers are not particularly full of good intentions. Once these are compromised, they can be used to coordinate phishing campaigns and other scams aimed at draining victims’ bank accounts.
How to remove your phone number from Facebook and Instagram?
Here are some of the reasons that might convince you to look into a (not quite) new tool distributed by Meta. Indeed, the company has provided a platform to Internet users that allows them to check for themselves whether the company knows their phone number. Of course for WhatsApp users, the question does not arise as the app requires you to enter your number for it to work.
But for everyone else it might be interesting to try the experiment and take the necessary steps to extract their numbers from their Metadatabase if needed. Note that Meta took care not to communicate about the feature when it was released last May. For example, on Facebook it can be accessed by going to: help pageslater on How To > Add Friends > May Know > Information For Non-Meta Users > How do non-users exercise their data subject rights?then, finally, click on the link Click here.
Nothing followed? This is normal, Meta obviously does not want you to know about this very practical tool. So there is a much simpler solution: follow this quick tutorial. Here is the procedure to follow:
- Click to go to the platform this link
- Select the information you want to verify: mobile phone, landline or e-mail address
- click Next
- click To organise and choose french numbers
- Enter phone number in the search bar
- Select the apps you want to scan among Facebook, Messenger and Instagram
- click Next
- Login confirmation code Received via SMS
- click To approve to remove your phone number from Meta databases
