As critics set their sights on a familiar target, Facebook is defending its use of consumers’ personal phone numbers, reports Digital News Daily, which added that at issue is the fact that “Facebook won’t let users opt out of a feature that makes their phone numbers searchable to others, including advertisers and app developers.

“Over the weekend, Jeremy Burge, Chief Emoji Officer at emoji-reference site Emojipedia, drew attention to the feature when he posted a screenshot of the setting.

““For years, Facebook claimed that adding a phone number for 2FA was only for security,” Burge tweeted. “Now it can be searched and there’s no way to disable that.””

More here.