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U-M expert warns of privacy concerns with new Threads social media platform

This photo, taken in New York, Thursday, July 6, 2023, shows Meta's new app Threads. Meta has unveiled an app called Threads to rival Twitter, targeting users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned and frequently changed by Elon Musk. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) (Richard Drew, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A new social media launched by Meta and Instagram has more than 100 million already signed up in less than a week, setting itself up as an alternative to Twitter.

Threads, launched by Facebook’s parent company last week, has been the talk of social media, integrating Instagram accounts with a brand new text-based social media platform.

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Nazanin Andalibi, assistant professor of information and digital studies at the University of Michigan, says users should be weary of privacy on the social app.

“Meta has historically been criticized for its privacy policies and practices. Threads seems to collect an astonishing range of data including sensitive information that can identify people,” Andalibi said in a U-M blog posted this week.

“Sensitive information in iOS means information such as racial or ethnic data, sexual orientation, pregnancy or childbirth information, disability, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, political opinion, genetic information or biometric data.”

Andalibi said, as it stands, users are not clearly informed on policies when signing up, and noted the policy making it impossible to delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account.

“In this case, while starting the social graph from Instagram gives Threads a leg up, it also means that these two platforms are entangled without much real user control. This is fair if the platform is literally intended as Instagram but in text as Meta has noted in a blog post, but can be problematic if it is intended to be a standalone platform because people do tend to separate their networks across various social media platforms,” Andalibi added.

---> More: Reluctant Twitter users, influencers and others are flocking to Meta’s new Threads app


About the Author
Ken Haddad headshot

Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.

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