Every single app that is free to use means you are the products being sold. This means when you go to the app store to download Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Cash App and Snapchat; they are all detriment to your personal data security. Well how do these companies take date from you or use it to their advantage?
Specifics
First you have to go to the app store and download an app lets say Cash App. Cash App has the obvious ways of making money by charging for instant transactions or companies who use these apps as a means of business but they also track every single transaction you have. They then sell these transactions and personal data to third party companies. This is true with all the apps you don’t pay for.
Some one like Facebook/Meta are most notorious for using tracking mechanisms for social media on every single person. They can use data to track someone who even doesn’t have the app. They do this by face tracking and name tracking. So if you have a loved one who post online a picture of you with them and then your name. Their system would not detect an account for that name then would make a shadow profile with your name and your face. So now every-time your name or face get added to the app by an acquaintance this will be added to that profile. Instagram which is part of meta also employs this technology.
Now what does snapchat do with your data? They also keep and sell it. Every single conversation you have with someone or photo you send is saved by Snapchat. So it is never correct to think you can send something through a social media app and other people will never see it.
Tiktok
The worst of them all is Tiktok. Tiktok actively goes through every file and item which it is download upon. iPhones and other phone companies have tried to stop them from gaining information that they should not access but they are still able too. They also have a keyboard tracker which tracks every single word you type in your phone. Tiktok downloads your photos and uses them as data also. These are just a couple of ways of how they collect data on you. They are the most malicious and should treated as such this is why there is a lot of debate about whether or not to ban the app from the U.S.
These are very few of the reason why you should be aware of your data through social media companies. If you want to be protected then don’t download these apps.
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