LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – What are some ways to protect yourself on Facebook in wake of this massive data leak?

With over 2 billion people that are active on Facebook, you can use the platform to post pictures, or even wish your friends a happy birthday. 

But through proper steps, you can control the information that the social media platform is getting about you.

On Monday, Facebook released messages on the news feeds of about 87 million users whose data may have been shared with British political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica without their knowledge.

Also you may have seen a notice to protect your information, with a link to see what apps you’ve used, and what information you may have shared with those apps. 

“Mostly through little quizzes and apps and stuff, you just click I accept, I accept, and you don’t think about it,” said Lauren Auverset, Assistant Professor of Public Relations at Univeristy of Louisiana, who’s research specializes in social media.

She says that your personal information can be shared through different quizzes and applications, through the popular social media platform.

“There’s a whole list of things that you’re actually agreeing to. When you see these buttons, we don’t read the buttons anymore for our iPhones or anything else,” said Auverset.

Once you put information on the internet or once you enter in something, you can’t take it back. 

“Even if you delete it, it’s there. It’s still somewhere even if it just exists in a screenshot, or in a database like Cambridge Analytica,” said Auverset.

She believes that Facebook, will possibly come out stronger because of this, but as of now, there is a lot of uncertainty.

“There are a lot of unknowns right now, but hopefully in the future we’ll learn a lot more,” said Auverset.

So how can you tell if your information was shared with Cambridge Analytica?

Visit this Facebook support page: https://www.facebook.com/help/1873665312923476

Now, to delete some Apps that may have your information, you can go into your settings, then go to Apps and Websites, click on the App, and then click remove. 

We should know a lot more about this massive data breach in the coming days.