Facebook's new general election feature sparks data privacy fears
The social network wants to know exactly where you live
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Your support makes all the difference.Facebook has launched yet another politically focused feature.
The social network is making the most of the general election, and has created a collection of new graphics breaking down the results.
A notification saying, “You have newly elected representatives. Find out who represents your constituency,” has just started rolling out to users.
Once you click it, the site launches a box that asks you to enter your postcode.
This has sparked concern amongst some users, who believe the feature is an elaborate ploy designed to get users to feed more of their personal information to the site.
Entering your postcode will take you to another graphic, displaying your local constituency’s winner, a link to their Facebook page and a Follow button, along with a list of other local representatives it thinks you might be interested in.
There’s a Prime Minister section too, but it’s greyed out at the time of writing, and reads, “Hung Parliament. Winner not yet declared.”
Clicking Next opens a box called 'Your Government', which allows you to “follow” a number of topics, such as crime, defence and economy.
You don't have to engage with anything if you don't want to, and once you’ve clicked through the series of graphics, you’ll be taken to a page titled “Results Are Coming In”.
Unsurprisingly, the main bulk of the page is dedicated to the general election numbers.
A neat, colour-coded table shows declared seats and changes from 2015, and if you scroll down you can see votes, changes from 2015 and voter turnout for your local constituency.
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