Does Instagram Spy on Your Data?

TechInAfrica – More often than not, the question that come across our minds (at some point) when we’re using social media platforms is does this program leak my data to be sold again? There has been rumors regarding various social media sites like Facebook, stating they’re selling our data to secret firms—in order to make us ‘more secure’. This only made users of social media more wary and reluctant to share even anything on their profiles. Some users even reportedly receive advertisements relevant to the messages they’ve sent merely hours ago. For Instagram, however, rumors are just rumors. As opposed to public suspicions, Instagram claimed it doesn’t keep your data of private conversations nor your microphone recordings.

This argument was provided by Adam Mosseri, chief of Instagram himself. He admitted that if Instagram were to do those kinds of things, it would spell a lot of trouble for themselves. Despite his claim, Mosseri doesn’t really expect the public to believe on his claim due to the rumors. Mosseri also speculated that the advertisements—which often come up after users even talk about it—are essentially generated by random algorithms. Or, most probably those ads occurred when it was just pure luck.

Transparency of policies, Mosseri said, is what makes users committed to Instagram (and Facebook, as its parent company). In addition of the rumors, recent ‘edited’ videos of famous people doing and/or saying certain things have also made the company uneasy. To address such disturbances, Mosseri spoke that a quicker course of action must be taken in order to locate the referred contents. Once they do, then it’s up to their team whether to take it down or to let them be—based on their respective judgments.