Are there any apps out there as loved and hated as social media apps? Whether your personal brand of poison is Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram, you’ve surely heard about all of the ways these apps can use your data and invade your privacy. But do you actually know which one poses the biggest potential risk? You don’t have to delete every single social media app on your phone to live a safer online life, but knowing which apps to avoid can help retain your privacy as much as possible. This is the one social media app putting your personal data at risk, according to experts.
Facebook Messenger
It’s easy to forget about Facebook Messenger as a contender for worst social media app because its sibling Facebook is always in the news for the myriad ways it compromises user data and privacy. But make no mistake, the Messenger app has big-time security flaws of its own. “Messenger is possibly that one app that you should stay away from at all costs,” says Tech Expert Tommy Mello, the founder, and CEO of A1 Garage Door Service. “Its algorithm is designed so that, when you send messages to anyone through the app, the employees at Facebook (its parent company) can easily access that data. The company is designed in a way that any employee with login credentials can access your messages easily. The controllers manually check-in to see if anything inappropriate has been shared and take it down themselves. This sacrifices any personal data that you might have shared on the messaging app.”
One of the major reasons why Messenger is so problematic is that it does not utilize end-to-end encryption, says Mila Garcia, co-founder of iPaydayLoans, which make it stand out from chat-based apps like WhatsApp, which do use it. “This means that the company essentially stores your private messages in plain text on their servers, which also means that this information can be easily accessed by any Meta employee with login credentials,” Garcia says. “And considering the fact that the company has faced multiple data breaches in the past, the use of this app for personal or business purposes poses a great risk to your privacy.”
For your safety and privacy, consider deleting the Facebook Messenger app and using a different chat-based app for communication purposes.
