Facebook Gets Flak Over Security Feature Revealing User's Phone Number

The security feature-designed only to authenticate your identity on the social media platform-may have left your phone number open for others to see, even for advertisers to bombard you with their ads.

San Francisco:

Facebook is facing a chain reaction during its secure two-factor authentication (2FA) login process where it has asked users to add phone numbers, which can be searched by advertisers.

The security feature - intended only to authenticate your identity on the social media platform - may have left your phone number open for others to see, even for advertisers to bombard you with their ads, reported USA Today Monday.

The debate was initiated by Jeremy Burge, who runs the Emojipedia website, saying that numbers added to use two-factor authentication were now searchable.

"The 2FA Facebook numbers are also shared with Instagram which invites you 'Is this your phone number?' Once you add to FB. WhatsApp also shares phone numbers with Facebook. Facebook shares phone numbers with advertisers, "Burge said in a series of tweets.

"For years, Facebook has claimed ... adding a phone number for 2FA was just for security, now it's possible to search for it and there's no way to disable it," added Burge.

Last September, Gizmodo reported that Facebook also uses security information to target ads.

Facebook reported receiving questions about two-factor authentication and phone number settings on Facebook.

"Two-factor authentication is an important security feature, and last year we added the option to set it up for your account without registering a phone number." "Who can look at me?" are not new and are not specific to two-factor authentication, the statement read.

"In April 2018, we removed the ability to enter another person's phone number or email address into the Facebook search bar to help find someone's profile."

The 2FA security practice has also been criticized by former Information Security Officer on Facebook, Alex Stamos.