Internet6.07.2023

All the private data Facebook’s Twitter clone collects about users

Threads, the Twitter clone from Facebook owner Meta Platforms, gathers a substantial amount of private user data for use by third-party advertisers.

However, an analysis of the app privacy disclosures on the Apple App Store shows that Twitter also gathers a substantial amount of private data.

In addition to developing Facebook, Meta Platforms has acquired two major social networks over the years — Instagram and WhatsApp.

Officially, Threads is an Instagram application.

Your existing Instagram username is reserved on the platform, and you can sign in using your existing Instagram account.

Once logged in, Threads prompts you to follow the accounts you already follow on Instagram — including those who aren’t on Threads.

Effectively, this lets you “pre-follow” accounts. Should those accounts sign up for Threads in future, you will automatically start following them.

Threads also promises that it will support the fediverse.

“Future versions of Threads will work with the fediverse, a new type of social media network that allows people to follow and interact with each other on different platforms, like Mastodon,” it says when you launch the app for the first time.

Mastodon is an open-source microblogging platform that many Twitter users flocked to in the wake of several seemingly erratic decisions after Elon Musk took over the social network.

Meta Platforms’ reference to the fediverse and Mastodon likely means Threads will support ActivityPub, an open social networking protocol.

ActivityPub lets users host their own servers for platforms like Mastodon and connect across different social networks.

For example, like Mastodon, the YouTube-like PeerTube and Instagram-like Pixelfed both support ActivityPub.

This allows users of these platforms to all connect with each other.

It’s not complicated either, working similarly to a regular email address.

Left: Message when first launching Threads.
Middle: My timeline is frequently populated with posts from people I don’t follow and topics I have no interest in.
Right: Threads notifications showing what happens when you “pre-follow” accounts.

With Threads promising to connect to the fediverse, it is worthwhile to compare its app privacy disclosures to Mastodon.

As one might hope from an open-source non-profit outfit like Mastodon, its official app collects no data.

However, it’s important to note that this doesn’t mean Mastodon instance operators won’t collect people’s personal data.

Therefore, it is important to select a Mastodon instance you can trust.

Those interested in trying Mastodon can consider the following nodes:

The Mastodon app collects no personal data.

As for the private data Threads and Twitter collect, it was interesting to see that Twitter collects data that could be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies.

Threads doesn’t do this, but it collects more data overall — including health and fitness data.

Threads is currently only available as an app for iPhone and Android smartphones and does not let you read posts via its website yet.

A summary of the data collected by the Threads, Twitter, and Mastodon apps as per the Apple App Store privacy disclosures is summarized below.

Apple explained what each of the types of data means on its website.

For example, “Sensitive info” includes 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.

“Other Financial Info” includes salary, income, assets, debts, or any other financial information.

Threads Twitter Mastodon
Data used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies
Purchase History
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Email Address
Other User Content
Browsing History
User ID
Device ID
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Data linked to your identity which may be used for the purposes indicated in italics
Third-party advertising
Purchase History
Other Financial Info
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Photos or Videos
Gameplay Content
Other User Content
Search History
Browsing History
User ID
Device ID
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data Types
Developer’s Advertising or Marketing
All of the above (excl. performance data)
PLUS
Other User Content
Analytics
All of the above PLUS
Health
Fitness
Payment Info
Photos or Videos
Audio Data
Customer Support
Sensitive Info
Product Personalization
Same as first-party Advertising
PLUS
Sensitive Info
App Functionality
Same as Analytics PLUS
Name
Phone Number
Emails or Text Messages
Other Purposes
Same as Advertising PLUS
Customer Support
⇱ means the data was already included as part of an “all of the above” stipulation.

Now read: Zuckerberg takes jab at Musk in first tweet in 11 years

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