In 2010, the famous comedy show Saturday Night Live made a sketch about social media. In it, an actor impersonating Julian Assange (founder of the platform WikiLeaks) stated, in a joyous and sarcastic manner, “I give you private information on corporations for free, and I’m a villain. [Facebook creator Mark] Zuckerberg gives your information to corporations, for money, and he’s [Time Magazine’s] Man of the Year.”  Do you see a connection of this comedy sketch and reality? How do you feel about providing your data to an enterprise for free while this making money with it. Is our data safe while using social media?

Obviously, in these days, personal data protection in social media is a very important topic. Social media usage is exponentially growing and is now an essential part of day-to-day life for the majority of people worldwide. From our white collar-co-worker to our sweet grandmother, almost everyone uses social media to share photographs, videos and conversations with friends or relatives, publishing personal information overall, and creating a sense of closeness.

However, as social media usage is so embedded in our habits as individuals and society, most people let their guard down when it comes to cybersecurity, which can have serious consequences in a long run.

Who else will see this data?

Therefore, there is plenty to learn about the protection of data and personal information while using social media, as you will see in this content unit.