In a world growing increasingly aware of internet privacy, many apps are vying for collecting numerous data points from their users.
So, how does one pick out the good apples from the bad? A recent report by the cloud storage firm pCloud comes to the rescue.
According to pCloud, Instagram is the most invasive app at present as it shares a whopping 79 per cent of users’ personal data to various third-party companies, which includes purchase behaviour, browsing history and more.
The report also mentioned that the popular image-sharing app makes use of 86 per cent of its users’ personal data to sell its app users more products from Facebook itself other than serving relevant ads on behalf of other advertisers.
After Instagram, Facebook grabs the second spot. It shares close to 57 per cent of its user data with other third-party companies while collecting 86 per cent of data solely for its benefitting its own products.
Next on the list are LinkedIn, the professional networking platform and food delivery app UberEast, both of which sell 50 per cent of the data it collects from its users to third-parties.
Youtube grabs the fourth spot on the list as it sends 42 per cent of its users’ personal data to feed its ad buying engine, which controls the type of adverts users see before and after playing videos. pCloud also mentioned that the same data is also sold to brands who might use it to target users on other social media platforms as well.
The fifth spot in the report goes to eBay, which sells a whopping 40 per cent of its user’s personal data. What is really surprising here is the fact that the U.S.-based e-commerce giant Amazon appeared really low in the list with no data pawned off to other companies and minimal tracking for its own advertising.
Now, on the other hand, pCloud notes that the apps that do not collect any data whatsoever are Netflix, Signal, Clubhouse, Skype, Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom. Thus, these apps can be rightly marked as the safest among all.
And lastly, while social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram are invasive to the brim, there are a few apps that collect the bare minimum data required. According to pCloud’s report, Likke, BIGO, LIVE are amongst the 20 topmost safest apps that track only 2 per cent of their users’ personal data.
pCloud collated data for its research based on Apple’s newly launched privacy labels that force developers to reveal all data points they collect from their app users.
How many of the apps mentioned above do you use on a daily basis? Let us know in the comments down below. We will keep you updated on all future developments. Until then, stay tuned.
