Oculus now requires you to sign in with your Facebook account and this is official, starting from October. Though grace will be granted to those with a different Oculus account. Facebook will stop the support for those on the 1st of January, in the year 2023.
Oculus will require your Facebook login
This decision was made on Tuesday on both Oculus’ Twitter and also in a press release. The real news is that all new users of Oculus after October would have to log in with their Facebook account. And this is mandatory. Till then, all users will get the option of joining both their Oculus accounts and Facebook accounts too. Anyone who fails to merge both accounts will be given two years. Before his or her Oculus accounts will be inoperative or useless. The devices will practically still function, however “full functionality will require a Facebook account”.
Remarkably, all future, all Oculus devices that are yet to be released will as well require a Facebook account. Whether you already have an Oculus account or not. This is undoubtedly a reference to the alleged successor to the Oculus Quest. Which leaks imply may launch ahead of time on the 15th of September.
What happens to all that you already bought on your Oculus account? Well, Facebook mentioned that it will “take steps” to enable folks to keep those things they have already purchased. However, they “expect(s) some games and apps may no longer work”. Suggesting that developers may just decide to involve features that need a Facebook account. Or just put an end to supporting the app or game in question.
Replies to Oculus Announcement
As you might think, the replies when the company made this announcement on Twitter are less than kind. In some instances, many users cried against the rules. Bringing back a promise made by founder Palmer Lucky when Facebook gained Oculus.
The promise was that people wouldn’t require any login to their Facebook account. When they want to make use of the Oculus Rift. While this move is seen as a means of streamlining the VR experience. By “giving people a single way to log in”. It is also an unconcealed attempt of trying to push people onto the Facebook platform. So that it can get your luscious data.
Last year, the Oculus platform got a lot of social features that nobody asked for. It requires you to log in to your Facebook account to work. And to also institute an element of data harvesting for targeted ads. The company made an announcement that it would be upgrading its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. So as to reflect the new changes that were made. It also restated that when users log into Oculus with their Facebook account. Facebook “will use information related to your use of VR and other Facebook products to provide and improve your experience”.
Facebook’s Action
Basically, what Facebook is doing is sacrificing the ability of a user to keep their hobbies far from social media. And data collection too. It is a master plan that is not restricted to Oculus hardware. The company requires Facebook accounts to make use of its terrifying Portal devices, which surprise also collect data.
Facebook will never admit this. However, it is probably made the calculation that data of users is more cherishable and beneficial. Than just selling out niche gadgets. It may be staking that even if some users of Oculus exit the platform on assumption. Their loss will be made up by gathering the data of those that still chose to stay. Or even new users who do not give a damn of what Facebook does.
Either which way. This is really bad news for that Venn diagram intersection of people who so much admire and care about digital privacy.
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