How Threads’ privacy policy compares to Twitter’s (and its rivals’)

I've been seeing a lot of posts about Threads privacy policy lately, where people seem genuinely shocked about it. I think it's good to raise awareness about how much data you're selling to Facebook company if you choose to use Threads, but I think it's also good to remind people (as the article does) that this happens also when you use Instagram or Facebook itself. Ditch Meta

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I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about Threads privacy policy lately, where people seem genuinely shocked about it.

I know I shouldn't still be jarred by stuff like this, but I am. It's like when I encounter people who don't use adblockers and they just sit in their chair and watch that shit. I really wish normal people gave more of a shit about this stuff.

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- It's amazing what people put up with when they don't know better. It's the same when ever I sit somewhere with the TV on. It's just pure garbage wether the commercials are on or not.
  
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It's not the first time either, there were loads of articles about Facebook (the app) and how it collected basically everything, so to me it isn’t that surprising Threads ticked virtually every box Apple offers too.

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Threads helps itself to an absurd amount of personal information. That, combined with the fact that you have to DELETE Instagram to fully delete your Threads account, is absolutely ridiculous.

So far, I’ve yet to read a review that enthusiastically endorses Threads as a Twitter replacement. Caveats abound. This could have been truly significant, but in his greed, Zuck dropped the ball.

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you have to DELETE Instagram to fully delete your Threads account, is absolutely ridiculous.

TBF if you're deleting threads for privacy reasons, you'd have to be a moron not to delete instagram too.

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- I think it's hilarious when anyone gets outraged about privacy when they are using a Meta app. The ignorance just makes me laugh.
  
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Can it even be called a privacy policy if there is no privacy? Heyo!

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There's good reason this garbage didn't launch in the EU.

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To be honest I don’t understand why people fixate on privacy in social media. The entire point is to accomplish the opposite of privacy. If you want privacy, don’t post personal stuff on the Internet, especially to sites explicitly intended to share it.

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It's not about what you post but what data will Threads/Twitter/FB apps will trick you into sharing on system level (location etc).

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- They are collecting health information and a category called "sensitive information."
  
  Fighting to keep apps from gathering my location is old news. Many also want my photos, and I don't trust them enough. Meta's policy is a whole different level of creepy.
  
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- Ah, good point
  
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Well, more to the point they don't want their identities sold. They don't want to be a product for some corporation. When you are on a decentralized platform and somewhat anonymous, it is actually a greater degree of privacy.

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- Lemmy is definitely better.
  
  But my point was if you don’t want to be a product for a corporation… don’t do that. Willingly productizing yourself and your engagement with social media, and then saying “what about my privacy,” seems entirely un-self-aware.
  
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- Then don't post your identity online.
  
  Everything I post here is public. All of my information is public, whether there's some flag to say that the info is private or not. It's still public to the admins that run the server, and I don't trust them any more than I trust some rando Internet person scraping data.
  
  Everybody seems to forget this, and pretend that large corpos are somehow obligated to protect your privacy.
  
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Yeah sure I want my memes to be public but do they really also need my gyroscope information, accelerometer, accounts information, search data, etc? I don't think so unless they're in the business of selling user data.

https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.instagram.barcelona/latest/

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In addition to the Meta/FB policy, there is also a Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy.

It states that data from interactions on Threads from Third Party servers is collected to improve Meta/FB services including post content, post actions, public user profile and IP Address.

That in itself isn't unthinkable or unexpected, but the implication of Threads using all of our interaction data for their own specialized tracking purposes makes me uncomfortable, so I'm glad many Fediverse servers supporting blocking interactions with Threads servers.

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For Android users, the Google Play Store doesn’t require you to hand over the same amount of extensive data to try out Threads. You have more control than Apple users, since you can granularly toggle what personal data is shared with apps.

Data linked to you

Third-party advertising:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email >Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User >Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay >Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising >Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Developer's advertising or marketing:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content ( Photos or Videos, Gameplay Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Analytics:

Health & Fitness (Health, Fitness) Purchases (Purchase History, Financial Info, >Payment Info, Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Audio Data, >Gameplay Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Product Personalization:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

App functionality:

Health & Fitness (Health, Fitness) Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Payment Info, Credit Info, Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Emails or Text Messages, Photos or Videos, Audio Data, Gameplay Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Other purposes:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay >Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

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As long as you are aware of what is being shared then you have an informed choice to make.

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Yes, this is the reason Meta keeps fighting Apple and Google when the app stores add marginal transparency.

I wonder how many people will even consider the possibility that they need to check those permissions carefully lest the social media app collect health data?

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- I think the culture/training of not even reading terms and conditions leads to people not checking what they give away to apps and software.
  
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Permanently Deleted

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- I agree that it is almost impossible these days to trust big corporations. Google and Meta are at the top my no trust list.
  
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How Threads’ privacy policy compares to Twitter’s (and its rivals’) - Ars Technica