Meta's Threads app, a text-based version of Instagram, was rolled out in more than 100 countries on Thursday. Seen as a direct competitor to Twitter, Mark Zuckerberg's app has gained immense popularity with record downloads in a short duration. However, it has also come under the scanner for its privacy policy and users' data collection requirements. (ALSO READ: Zuckerberg brings Twitter-like Threads app. Dorsey, Musk flag privacy concerns)
Now that the Meta app is live, let's compare the privacy policy and data collection of both threads app and Twitter.
What data points does Threads app collect?
Threads app collects far more individual data points than Twitter, including a user's health data and 'sensitive' info. But while Twitter seems to collect far less personal data than Threads, it does use 10 data points to track users across the internet - something the new Meta app claims not to do at all, according to research from Top10VPN, a VPN review website that works in the area of digital privacy, and security.
Threads collect the following notable data points that are linked to users while Twitter does not:
Financial Info: Credit Info, Payment Info, Other Financial Info
{{/usCountry}}Financial Info: Credit Info, Payment Info, Other Financial Info
{{/usCountry}}Contact Info: Name, Physical Address, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info
Health & Fitness: Health data, Fitness data
User Content: Emails or Text Messages
Search History
Sensitive Info
What sensitive informations are collected?
The Threads privacy policy says that users may choose to provide information about religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership.
"However, this appears to refer to the content of posts made on the Threads platform. Under this interpretation, Twitter should really have the same privacy label and yet does not," the research added.
What data points does Twitter collect?
Twitter discloses 10 data points that it uses for tracking, most notably:
Precise Location
Email Address
Browsing History
Purchase History
User ID
Device ID
It is to be noted that Threads does collect these data points, however, the absence of any “Data Used To Track You” labels implies that Meta does not use them the same way.
'Instagram or Facebook users are already sharing this data'
Simon Migliano, Head of Research at Top10VPN.com, said: “Threads certainly collects significant amounts of personal data, however, any user of Instagram or Facebook will already be sharing this data with Meta and the permissions sought are fairly standard for a social media app.”
As of now, the Threads app is accessible only through an Instagram account, this, Mogliano told Hindustan Times, has made it impossible to delete your Threads account without also deleting your Instagram account. “This isn’t made clear before sign-up and is really quite deceptive.”
Threads app a concern for India?
Given that Instagram has a significant share in India, privacy concerns become a lot more important for the country. “India has made it a habit of conveniently dismissing all data concerns including the latest Cowin breach," Mishi Choudhary, technology lawyer and online civil rights activist told Hindustan Times. (ALSO READ: Centre says CoWin portal completely safe, dubs reports of leak ‘mischievous’)
She added, unlike the European Union, India has no law to prohibit Gatekeepers from combining users’ personal data across different platforms. “Threads are intertwined with Instagram and there's bound to be data sharing. At present, India has no law to prevent this. Rampant data sharing happens across apps and here we are talking about Meta's own properties. The Digital Data Protection Bill, a draft of which we had seen in the fall of 2022, will not be able to prevent this either.”
ALSO READ: Data protection bill gets Cabinet nod, likely to be introduced in monsoon session
What steps can Threads users take to protect their personal information?
According to Simon Migliano:
1) In the Account Centre, you can also reduce the time Meta retains your search history, although the 3 days are still longer than ideal.
2) It’s possible to manually clear searches as frequently as you like to prevent this data from being used for marketing purposes.
3) You should also avoid syncing contacts.
4) If you deselect all optional cookies, this will help reduce tracking.
5) Make sure that you also change your ad settings to decline “more relevant” ads, as these rely on your personal data.
6) Be aware that whatever you permit for Instagram carries over to Threads, so turn off Location Tracking for Instagram if you want to prevent Threads from tracking you.