In March 2026, Facebook users alleged a lawyer working with CBS News' "60 Minutes" advised them to implement safeguards involving a big change coming to the Meta social media platform. According to users' posts, Meta signed into policy a "new Facebook rule" allowing the company the rights to users' photos — as well as personal data — starting "tomorrow."
The warning, which appeared many times in Facebook search results, read as follows:
Just in case…Everyone, stay safe. Big day tomorrow. It's official. Signed at 6:00am. It was even on TV. Mine really turned blue. Don't forget that tomorrow marks the start of the new Facebook rule (also known as Meta), which allows them to use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!!!
Hold your finger anywhere in this message and "copy" will appear. Click "copy. Then go to your page, create a new post, and place your finger anywhere in the empty field. "Paste" will appear, and click Paste.
This will bypass the system….
He who does nothing consents
According to the show 60 Minutes:
Just in case you missed it: a lawyer advised us to post this. The violation of privacy can be punished by law. NOTE: Facebook Meta is now a public entity. Every member must post a note like this. If you do not publish a statement at least once, it will be technically understood that you are allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.
I HEREBY DECLARE THAT I DO NOT GIVE MY PERMISSION FOR FACEBOOK OR META TO USE ANY OF MY PERSONAL DATA.
In short, none of this was true. Meta did not sign into policy a "new Facebook rule," nor did "60 Minutes" post about the matter on social media.
One of the oldest and more persistent rumors in internet history is the Facebook post asking users to copy and paste text to declare an establishment of legal authority. Users who copy and paste a block of text onto their profile page will not change anything about the fact that they already agreed to the company's terms of service and privacy policy when they signed up for an account.
In 2019, Meta published of such rumors, "Copy-and-paste memes — those blocks of text posted on message boards, forwarded in emails and shared via social media — are as old as the internet."
We previously reported numerous times about this same rumor, including at least two variations of this very same text, as well as many past versions. We label such posts as copypasta, meaning copied-and-pasted social media messages.
For further reading, we previously investigated another rumor that Meta, in January 2025, removed a guideline from its hateful-conduct policies that previously prohibited users from comparing women to "household objects."