Have you ever noticed that as soon as you talk to friends about something, that thing suddenly starts appearing in the feed of your Facebook, Instagram or YouTube? If this has happened, it cannot be just a coincidence. A new report has made a big disclosure that social media apps keep an eye on not only your posts, but also.
Every click is eye
According to a recent report by UK’s research agency APTECO, many popular apps including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube silently track the activities of users. The more simple you consider these apps, the more clever they are. These are your choice, your search history, your location and even what you have interest, record everything.
Who are included in this list?
Not only social media, apps related to e-commerce and finance are also not behind in gathering your personal information. This report states that apps like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Amazon, Alexa, YouTube, X (first Twitter) and even PayPal closely monitors users’ digital habits.
Your digital life has become ‘data’
A digital profile of yours is prepared from the information collected through these apps. It shows what you buy, what you are interested in, what are your opinion about the issues, and what people do you connect with. The purpose of all these is to show you the same kind of content that can affect your mind.
data may be misused
Although companies claim that these data are taken only to improve the user experience, but there have been many cases in the past where data was misused. Cambridge Analytica scandal cannot be forgotten, where social media data analyzed the political thinking of millions and attempts to influence the elections.
How to keep your privacy safe?
If you want to continue using these apps but also save your privacy, then some easy steps can help you:
- While installing the app, read every permission carefully, do not serve anything without need.
- Give sensitive permission like camera, microphone and location only when necessary.
- Check the apps permission from time to time by going to the phone’s setting and turn off unnecessary access.
- Download apps only from trusted and official platforms.
- Do read the data policy, rating and review of the apps.
The more facility the digital world provides, the more risk it also brings. Therefore, it is important that we should not just be a user, but become a sensible user. Trust technology, but not blindly.