It’s dark UX and the terrible Amdroid permissions system that tricked them into it.
Were the same information design effort applied to explaining the data collection and sharing, all users would at least know what is happening.
Most users should know/intuit how this pervasive data collection/sharing can have unwanted side effects, even without such nicely designed explanations, but one of the most effective rules of UX is don't make me think.
[0]: "Frictionless" in practice means "don't wait, start using this now and only think about it later".
Dark UX suggests a control designed to trick you into making a decision you would deliberate otherwise not make. I looked at their opt-in control and it is very clear that you have to opt-in.
In other words, if you didn't want Facebook to have all your call and SMS data then why would you deliberately agree to give it to Facebook with their very obvious consent form?
Thats exactly what this is, Dark UX. No reasonable person would think that “text anyone on my phone” means “log all my calls and text messages in perpetuity” despite the deliberately obtuse (and light gray!) paragraph below.
It’s a trap.
I haven't used FB in a long time and I never used their mobile app, so here's a genuine request: do you have a screenshot or some example of how they gather consent for this?
Fixed that for you.
