Facebook’s Civil Rights Audit Chapter Seven: Privacy Given the vast amount of data Facebook has and the reach of its platform, the civil rights community has repeatedly raised concerns about user privacy. These concerns were only exacerbated by the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the data of up to 87 million Facebook users was obtained by Cambridge Analytica without the express consent of the majority of those users. While the larger digital privacy discourse has focused on issues such as transparency, data collection minimization, consent, and private rights of action, the civil rights and privacy communities are increasingly focused on the tangible civil rights and civil liberties harms that flow from social media data collection practices. Groups are concerned about the targeting of individuals for injurious purposes that can lead to digital redlining, discriminatory policing and immigration enforcement, retail discrimination, the targeting of advocates through doxxing and hate speech, identity theft, voter suppression, and a litany of other harms. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and massive racial justice protests, these concerns are at an all-time high as people are more reliant on social media and digital platforms for civic activity and basic needs. In recent years, the civil rights community has focused on the use of Facebook and Facebook data for law enforcement purposes. More specifically, civil rights and civil liberties groups have expressed concern about use of the platform to monitor or surveil people without their knowledge or consent by obtaining and scraping Facebook data, using facial recognition technology on Facebook users, or misrepresenting themselves to “investigate” people. There is particular concern that these tactics could be used to focus on communities of color. Also, collection of personal social media data can also have enormous consequences for lawful and undocumented immigrants and the people they connect with on Facebook. For example, in a program starting in 2019, the State Department began collecting and reviewing social media accounts for most visa applicants and visitors entering the United States, affecting some 15 million travelers per year. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is building upon this. Although Facebook continues to push back on governments (and this use of social media data specifically), the use of public social media data by law enforcement and immigration authorities is seemingly everexpanding in ways that can have significant privacy (and civil rights) implications. Facebook’s announcements regarding its planned adoption of end-to-end encryption for all of its messaging products have been praised by some privacy, human rights and civil liberties groups as an important step to protect the privacy, data security and freedom of expression rights for billions of users. However, the issue cuts both ways. Civil rights and anti-hate groups have also raised questions, given that encryption can prevent Facebook and law enforcement from proactively accessing or tracing harmful content such as hate speech, viral misinformation, efforts to engage in human trafficking or child exploitation. This chapter provides an overview of the changes Facebook has recently implemented to provide increased privacy protections, including those adopted in connection with its 2019 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. It also shines a light on Facebook’s current policies with respect to the use of facial recognition technology, 83