Facebook privacy and copyright hoaxes

The Facebook privacy and copyright hoaxes are a collection of similar internet hoaxes that claim that posting a status on social networking site Facebook constitutes a privacy notice that protects your posts on the site from copyright infringement or that provides privacy protection to their profile information and other content they have posted to the site. The hoax takes the form of a Facebook status that, when posted, urges others to post the same or a similar status. The hoax first became popular in May and June 2012, but has since re-appeared multiple times, including in November 2012 and then again in 2015, first in January and later in September of that year. All of the hoaxes are based on several misunderstandings, including, with respect to the privacy version, the fact that it incorrectly assumes that Facebook becoming a public company in May 2012 affects how it treats user information, the assumption that posting certain content online can protect someone from adverse legal consequences, and the fact that the hoax ignores that if Facebook wanted to significantly change its terms of service agreement, it would have to provide notification of these changes.