Who 'OWNS' 'Facebook' is it a monoply?

[lwhhow]

This seems a big for profit company and the worlds biggest internet operation (outside maybe Google). Why do people 'join' it. If I'm wrong....please explain....
It seems to me the Facebook site gets (requires) users to provide current phone numbers, cell numbers (that can be tracked monthly), addresses, occupations, birth dates, graduations dates, and even a current photo of their own face as 'avatar'. Then, further encourages them to provide current family photos, vacation photos and 'chat' in text with 'friends' over...of course...'Facebook'....with all IT service providers and computer IT registered numbers available to... 'Facebook'.
Is 'Facebook' the end of a free internet?
Thanks for the answers so far but also I guess what I meant could 'Facebook' be a... 'information mining'....operation? The 'requirements of 'verified accounts', that is...'land line phone number of people'/ real legal name, plus 'mobile numbers', plus current photos as ' strongly encouraged' and full birth dates?

[Alec]

I'm pretty sure Facebook has investors. But, I think Mark Zuckerberg owns the controlling interest.

[TG]

... people use facebook to connect with each other when they are not face to face. And it's not really a monoply considering that there is twitter, google+, vine, snapchat, instagram, linkin

[Cynthia]

Facebook is publicly owned, but the largest shareholder is the founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

As for all the things you mention, I have never had to give my phone number to register. No one has to give their occupation (that is completely voluntary) or their graduation date, or name of their school. Your birth date is needed because no one under the age of 13 should be using Facebook, though people do lie.

As for photos, that is completely up to the user. I, for one, do not have a current picture of myself as my Facebook profile picture...I have a giraffe. I also have never been forced to post pictures, but sometimes, that is what I choose to do. I never post pictures of people's faces for privacy reasons.

I also never give too much information over Facebook because I realize that nothing on the Internet is private.

But, Facebook is not a monopoly. There are other social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter, Instagram (though that is now owned by Facebook), KiK, Snapchat, etc.

You sound very bitter about this subject. We do tend to hate what we don't understand and you obviously don't understand much about Facebook. If it's privacy that you're so worried about, there are ways to avoid losing it. There are also other sites, such as online shopping, that require just as much, if not more information from their users than Facebook.

[abraXus]

data mining is done by every corporation... think about Best Buy for example... they give you "points" for each purchase you make if you sign up for their little card.. they use that information to know how to advertise to you - facebook is no different in its collection of data - there's nothing wrong with it