--- title: "Facebook is Opening Privacy Check-Up Cafes, for Some Reason" description: "In an attempt to convince its two billion users that it truly cares about their privacy, Facebook is opening a number of pop-up privacy check-up cafes." date: "2019-08-16" modified: "2019-08-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-privacy-check-up-cafes" categories: - "Future Society" - "Privacy" tags: - "facebook" - "online privacy" - "privacy" - "the digest" --- # Facebook is Opening Privacy Check-Up Cafes, for Some Reason ![In an attempt to convince its two billion users that it truly cares about their privacy, Facebook is opening a number of pop-up privacy check-up cafes.]() *\Image: Facebook\* ## Privacy Cafe In an attempt to convince its two billion users that it truly cares about their privacy — pinky swear — Facebook has decided to open a number of pop-up cafes across the UK to give people a privacy check-up. Because nothing says privacy like a public cafe in the middle of London. Of course, the reason almost nobody knows how to check up on their privacy in the first place is at least in part thanks to Facebook's convoluted settings pages of redundant menus and confusing language. A [recent poll]() found that a quarter of all Londoners in the UK had no idea how to customize their privacy settings on social media. At the five Facebook cafes, visitors will get free drinks and a tutorial on how to customize their privacy settings — something you'd normally have to pay people to do in their spare time. ## Hollow Gestures It's a perplexing move considering the social network's atrocious track record when it comes to protecting user privacy, from the [Cambridge Analytica scandal]() that may have [interfered]() with the 2016 U.S. presidential election to [countless breaches]() and leaks. So far, the company's move has been to [apologize profusely](), and [update its privacy settings](). Yet it keeps stumbling. Just this week, [*Bloomberg* reported]() that Facebook was secretly accumulating transcripts of its users' Messenger conversations. And half a dozen temporary Facebook cafes aren't going to fix that any time soon. As [*Engadget* argues](), the move puts the onus onto users to closely monitor their own privacy settings rather than relying on the platform to protect users. **READ MORE:** [Facebook pivots privacy failings into pop-up cafes]() \[Engadget\] **More on Facebook:** *[Facebook Has Been Secretly Transcribing Your Conversations]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()