Subjects: This is the kind of personal information you hand over

Threads, Meta’s new social media platform, is now the fastest growing app in history with over 100 million users in less than a week.

But during its launch last Wednesday, the text-based app intended to challenge Twitter has come under scrutiny for its extensive privacy practices, which allow the developer, Instagram, to collect a host of user data, including health analytics, browsing history and other “sensitive information.” .”

Many people have pointed out the app’s data policy, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who tweeted a screenshot of Threads’ privacy practices detailed on Apple’s App Store.

Meta, the parent company of Threads’ developer Instagram, has a history of mishandling users’ personal information. The tech company, formerly known as Facebook, admitted in 2018 that more than 600,000 Facebook users in Canada had their personal information collected by Cambridge Analytica.

The UK-based company, which had ties to both the Trump presidential campaign and Brexit, used that data to sell services to political campaigns in the United States and Britain. CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at the time that user expectations were “broken”.

As Threads continues to grow in popularity, here’s a closer look at its privacy policy and how it compares to other platforms.

Wires

Threads can collect a wide variety of users’ personal information, including health, finances, contacts, browsing and search history, location data, purchases and other classified “sensitive information,” according to the app’s App Store data privacy disclosure.

In its privacy policy, last updated June 15, Meta said it collects this data for a variety of purposes, including to personalize user experiences, improve products and prevent harmful behavior.

While Meta may share some information with third parties, it stressed that it does not sell information and “never will”.

However, the privacy concerns surrounding Threads led Meta to roll it out in the European Union, citing regulatory uncertainty. The 27-country EU has strict data privacy rules and will begin enforcing a new set of digital rules aimed at cracking down on Big Tech companies and limiting what they can do with users’ personal information.

Twitter

Twitter’s privacy policy, effective May 18, states that the tech company may collect information such as device data, the content of direct messages, and location data.

“When you use our services, we collect information about how you use our products and services,” the social media company said on its website. “We use that information to provide you with products and services, to keep Twitter safer and more respectful for everyone, and more relevant to you.”

TikTok

TikTok was in the spotlight earlier this year after multiple levels of Canadian governments announced they would ban the social media platform on government-issued mobile devices, citing privacy concerns. The announcements came as Canadian privacy commissioners began investigating the company.

The privacy policy outlines many points of data that the company collects, including usernames, passwords, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, information disclosed in user profiles, photos, and videos.

Screen resolution, keystroke patterns, battery levels, audio settings and “your approximate location, including location information based on your SIM card and/or IP address” are also collected by the app.

snapchat

Snapchat, the popular instant messaging service, may collect information such as username, username, password, email address, phone number, and date of birth.

The app, in which users often send disappearing photos and messages, can also collect images from users’ camera rolls. “For example, you can’t send Snaps or upload photos from your camera roll unless we have access to your camera or photos,” the company said in its privacy policy.

Snapchat may also collect user information from third parties: “Advertisers, app developers, publishers and other third parties may also share information with us. We may use this information to target or measure advertising performance, among other things.”

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