Facebook is a company that enjoys a relatively huge install base and you’d be hard pressed to find someone in this modern era who doesn’t have a Facebook account. People either install the app willingly to their phones and in a lot of cases, you will find the app already pre-installed for you.
However, the latter scenario is usually pretty controversial. In some cases, you can uninstall the app but in a lot of cases, the app cannot be removed and you are forced to disable it instead if you don’t want to use the app.
Bloomberg reported that some Samsung Galaxy users took to Twitter to complain that they were not able to delete Facebook from their phones. Some wanted to delete the app because the felt like the News Feed was full of negative stuff and couldn’t delete Facebook and was bothered by the fact he could only disable it only.
https://twitter.com/BoutSebm/status/1070745029243797510
@SamsungMobileIN very slimy sneaking in @facebook and @instagram on to my phone w/o consent under the #SamsungUltra apps. I can't even delete or force stop them. Been a Samsung customer for 10 years. Time to move on.
— **Gopinath** (@gopibella) October 29, 2018
The interesting thing is that Samsung said that when you disable Facebook, it is no longer running. A Facebook spokesperson told Bloomberg said that the disabled version of the app acts like it has been deleted so it doesn’t continue collecting data or sending information back to Facebook. Apparently the deals they make with manufacturers are meant to give consumers ‘the best phone experience right after opening the box’ and you can understand such decisions cannot sit well with people.
You can understand why such arrangements can make people mad. If you cannot delete an app, it means that you don’t have full control over your experience on your shiny new phone and it feels like they don’t want to leave your phone and away from your precious data.
