So many social media platforms collect and use users’ data that it’s difficult narrowing down the list to just four sites. On its face it makes sense why sites do this: to keep solvent and improve. A free site needs to generate revenue somehow, and that is when its users become its most important products. By collecting our data, these sites then turn around and sell it to third-party advertisers as well as use it for their own analytic purposes (to improve upon their own product).
The best way to keep a website from using your data is to not sign up for that website in the first place. But we get it: it’s difficult to avoid social media sites and they can be hard to quit. According to security experts, these four social media sites are selling your data — the more aware you are, the more informed a decision you can make.
1. Instagram
Instagram tracks the posts and stories we share, the likes and comments we receive, the accounts we follow, our direct messages, and even the amount of time we spend on its app. It collects our location data (creepy, but it’s far from the only app to do so), and your data could be assisting its advertising in targeting its content directly to you based on your Instagram activity.
2. Snapchat
Snapchat collects its users’ phone numbers, email addresses, date of birth, snaps and chats, stories, location, and even information about your device, such as your operating system and device model. It partners with third-party advertisers to profit from your data.
3. Facebook
Facebook is the original data-collecting social media app and at this point no one is surprised about how much personal data it collects and stores. Among the data Facebook collects is user activity data, personal info, location data, and information about your device. Facebook partners with third-party advertisers and has proven, time and again, that it provides user data to these businesses to generate profit.
4. TikTok
In addition to collecting all of the data that the other social media apps on this list collect, TikTok also collects facial recognition data that it uses for certain features, like applying AR effects to faces in videos. TikTok uses cookies and partners with advertisers to profit from your data.
