The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has published advice for Canadians on how to protect privacy while using social media. 

Social media can be a powerful tool to help you connect with friends and family, share your interests with others, or get the latest news. But social media can also put your safety at risk because you are sharing personal information online.

While businesses have a legal responsibility to protect your personal information, once it is out there, you may not be able to control what happens to it. This could pose a risk to your privacy or even make you vulnerable to phishing, identity theft or fraud.

Consider incorporating the following steps to help keep you safe on social media.

• Read the privacy policy: become familiar with the privacy policies of the social media platforms you want to join.
• Choose your passwords carefully: use a strong and unique password for each of your social media accounts to prevent your accounts from being hacked.
• Understand and manage your privacy settings: find out how to adjust your privacy settings, customize them so that information is shared only in the ways you want it to be. Review and update these settings regularly, since social media sites can change their settings.
• Think long term: don’t post anything you wouldn’t want everyone to see.
• Review regularly: what may have seemed like a good idea at the time may not seem like such a good idea months or years later.

Find more information on protecting your privacy when using social media at: https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/technology/online-privacy-tracking-cookies/online-privacy/social-media/02_05_d_74_sn/

Related links: 
Protecting personal information on mobile devices
Tips for using privacy settings

SOURCE Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada