Instagram’s Data Privacy Statement
Nowadays, it is almost common knowledge that large corporations like Facebook, Google, and Twitter collect and sell our data. However, not many people know the full extents of their collecting. To test this, I decided to interview my roommate to see what he thought without any prior research.
Transcript: “I’m here with my roommate, ok, how much data do you think Instagram and Facebook can collect?” “Umm, let’s see, I think they can see, like I don’t use Facebook, so I don’t know about that, but for Instagram, which I know is a part of Facebook basically, uh, I’m pretty sure they can see all your likes, all your, uh, saved posts, um, all your comments, and then they can analyze those, especially with the likes, and tailor content for you to see.” “Ok, thank you.”
For this blog, I took a deeper look into the privacy statement of Instagram, a subsidiary of Facebook, to see what they admit to doing publicly and how that resides in the laws of the United States, and to inform more people about the extent of the information Big Tech has on us.
The first section of Instagram’s Privacy Statement describes what they collect while you are using the app. They collect information about your social network, who you interact with, what posts you interact with, and how they will give you posts to see based on their algorithm, which uses the information they collect about you to cater posts and ads to your liking. Basically, anything you do on the app, like posts you like and what purchases you make in app, they can track and will specify your feed to fit your personality. This is the information that most people realize Facebook and Instagram do to make money. Collecting and selling information about what you do while on the app makes sense, however, it is not where these corporations draw the line on invading in our privacy. If allowed to do so, Instagram can access your location, meaning it tracks where you go at all times, and it does not have to be even when you are using the app. It also has access to all of your photos, as well as where and when you took them. It also can track what you are doing on your device. Instagram openly admits to having access to what apps and tabs are in the foreground while you are on the app. Their collection doesn’t stop. On the device, they can find out your battery level, the strength of your signal, available storage space, and the operating system. While all of their means of collecting data does not seem awful, they have some serious implications. One article, published by The Guardian, talks about how “Facebook Told Advertisers It Can Identify Teens Feeling ‘insecure’ and ‘Worthless.’” Their constant data mining to make a buck is a complete invasion of privacy. Most of the time I don’t even know how I’m feeling, but I should not fear as I may not know, Facebook and Instagram do know and they will give me ads that will help. Instagram claims they collect information to “Provide, personalize and improve our products,” and while they do use our information to tailor our feeds, they also sell all of our information to advertisers so that they can profit. We are their product. And if you think that maybe there are privacy laws to protect us from having our information placed into the wrong hands, it is clear from the New York Times article “Mark Zuckerberg Testimony: Senators Question Facebook’s Commitment to Privacy” that these politicians have absolutely no idea what these big tech companies are doing.
