Is Your “Private Account” Really Private?
How social media uses your data to make millions
Most teens today have many social media accounts, the most popular being Instagram and Snapchat.
January 14, 2019
With more than 2.27 billion Facebook users and around 1 billion on Instagram, it’s no secret that social media has taken the internet by storm. Facebook has had some serious privacy issues in the past, but are Liberty students worried Instagram will suffer the same fate?
“While it is true that Facebook hasn’t sold users’ data, for years it has struck deals to share the information with dozens of Silicon Valley companies. These partners were given more intrusive access to user data than Facebook has ever disclosed,” according to an article in The New York Times “Facebook’s Data Sharing and Privacy Rules: 5 Takeaways From Our Investigation”.
Many people aren’t aware that Facebook now owns Instagram as of a billion dollar deal made in 2012. With Facebook losing popularity after a major data leak in late 2018, Instagram is steadily becoming a valuable source of revenue for the company. Since no payment is required to make an account on Instagram or Facebook, the company relies on ads.
How do they know what will catch your attention? That’s where your privacy comes into question. Do Liberty students feel like they can trust Instagram with their information?
“I trust Instagram, but I’ll always be cautious. There are so many websites that will try to take information from you to know more about what you like. It’s sorta of creepy how they do that. Technology is so advanced it’s scary sometimes,” freshman Ayrianna Franklin said.
Many will argue that people are just being too careless online and companies are just doing what they have too to stay afloat.
“I think that both people and companies are at fault for the privacy violations on the internet because many people overshare or aren’t careful since they feel like it’s ‘private’, but the companies aren’t in the right for exploiting that,” freshman Kat Gniatkowski said.
