Using Facebook and Instagram may be a load of fun, but it probably won’t be the first time when you’ll hear about their potential to spy on their users. Just in case you were feeling too unconcerned while searching for specific things or scrolling across the famous social platforms, Felix Krause comes to spoil your fun.
Krause is a researcher, and he raises awareness in a blog post about Meta’s potential to spy on the activity of Facebook and Instagram users. The secret lies in the custom in-app browser that FB and Instagram use to redirect you when you wish to visit a specific website you see on those platforms. You don’t get to choose which browser to use, which should automatically raise a suspicion. Instead, the browsers that you’re forced to use will use some coding gimmick to give Meta the possibility of tracking you.
We all have to admit that the first paragraph of the blog post is indeed frightening as hell:
The iOS Instagram and Facebook app render all third party links and ads within their app using a custom in-app browser. This causes various risks for the user, with the host app being able to track every single interaction with external websites, from all form inputs like passwords and addresses, to every single tap.
While Krause’s research is based on the iOS versions of the notorious social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, there’s still hope that Android users can still use the apps without concerns of being tracked.
Of course, in the end, just because a huge company has the possibility to track its users doesn’t automatically mean that it will indeed use it. Meta would probably say that it will never do such a thing, but should we believe them or not? Feel free to leave us your opinion in the comment section!