Social media apps can be a lot of fun — they help us stay connected to friends and family, keep up with trends, and even discover new things we love. Whether you’re scrolling through vacation pics, sharing memes, or catching up on messages, these platforms have become a big part of everyday life. But while they bring people together, there’s a side to social media that’s more concerning: how they collect and use your personal data. Many apps track your activity, location, and habits more than most people realize, and that can lead to serious privacy concerns over time. If you’re trying to take better control of your personal information, it’s worth knowing which apps are a little too loose with your data. Here are three social media platforms that privacy experts say you should keep a closer eye on.
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1. TikTok
TikTok collects a shocking amount of data on its users, including your location, browsing history, device info, IP address, and even how long you watch certain videos. It also tracks your keystrokes in the app, which has raised some red flags. While TikTok says it uses this information to personalize your feed and improve user experience, concerns have been raised about how this data might be shared with parent company ByteDance, which is based in China. Privacy experts worry about how much access third parties (or even foreign governments) might have to user data, especially when that data includes patterns of behavior and interests over time.
2. Facebook
Facebook is known for collecting extensive user data, including your personal details, location, search history, contacts, messages, what you click on, and how long you spend on different posts. This data is used to build detailed user profiles that fuel Facebook’s ads — there’s a legit explanation for why you constantly receive targeted ads on Facebook for products you searched up minutes before. Over the years, the platform has faced multiple privacy scandals, most notably the Cambridge Analytica breach, raising concerns about how much control users really have over their information.
3. Instagram
Instagram is nearly identical to Facebook in the kind of data it collects: location, usage patterns, direct messages, likes, comments, and even what you look at but don’t engage with. It uses this data to serve you personalized ads and content suggestions, and to keep you engaged as long as possible. While the app offers some privacy settings, many of its data practices happen in the background, often without users being fully aware of how much is being monitored. The only true way to keep Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok from collecting and profiting from your data is to delete the apps.
