- Threads is Meta's new app, a text-based social media platform connected to Instagram.
- Threads collects various types of user data, including online habits and general location.
Threads, Meta's competitor for Twitter, has already registered millions of users — but the app collects more data than unwary internet surfers might realize.
Threads allows third-party services or sites to access some user data without controls from Meta, something it regulates more heavily in its other products, such as Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Portal. This means that users have less control over their data and may not know where it winds up.
In its general privacy policy — which applies to all Meta Products — Meta lays out a long list of data it collects from you when you use its products.
Beyond being able to access your public content, the company can access your camera to collect data on its usage, unencrypted messages sent and received, your interactions with ads and website content, the length of time you spend on the apps, and your device details — down to your battery level and signal strength.
For transactions, Meta collects your card number and details, billing, shipping, contact details, what you purchased, and the vaguely-stated "other account and authentication information." Even if your location services are turned off, the service collects IP addresses to approximate your location — something not unique to Meta's applications.
The app can also collect personal demographics, including education level, race, pregnancy status, various health data, and the vaguely-defined "sensitive data," which, according to Apple's definition of app privacy policies, can include"religious or philosophical beliefs." According to reporting by CBS, a cybersecurity expert from Drexel University raised concerns about protecting personal privacy under these guidelines.
Data collection can have serious consequences. Previous reporting from Insider explored how Meta, for example, helped provide evidence in the prosecution of a Nebraska woman accused of helping her daughter receive an abortion.
How Threads pulls its users further into the shared data-verse
But that's just the beginning of the data collected if you use Threads in addition to other Meta apps.
Users may not be aware that Threads has its own additional "supplemental" privacy policy. In addition to noting that you can only delete your Threads profile by deleting your Instagram account, the policy says Threads collects your profile information, your activity and content on the app, and information about the people and communities you interact with.
On or off Meta products, according to the policy, some information on Threads is visible to the entire internet — as on most social media sites, your username, name, profile photo, and bio are always public. Additionally, because Threads is "integrated" with various third-party services, those services can access some of your data, including your posts, IP address, and online activity such as comments or interactions with other users.
By nature of this integration, information sent or shared with a third party is not controlled by Meta and is subject to whatever rules the party may have. Examples of possible third parties could include service providers to the company, investors, or various vendors. Without full control of which third parties are collecting data and what they can do with that data, users can't be entirely sure where their data or what data will be stored around the internet.
Threads does allow users to manage or delete their information from the app by using their Instagram settings. However, both apps mostly allow viewers to control what of their profiles is public — not what data the company ultimately collects.
In a statement to Insider, Meta said Threads' privacy policies are similar to their other apps, including Instagram.
"Our apps receive whatever information you share in the app - including the categories of data listed in the App Store. People can choose to share different kinds of data," the statement said. "Meta's privacy policy, and the Threads supplementary privacy policy, are the best resources to understand how Threads uses and collects data."