While social media use has become ubiquitous, the safety and privacy of these networks have become an increasing concern. Because of the amount of data users provide to these platforms—and how the platforms use this information—the question of social media privacy is one that’s being debated more and more.
Although many governing bodies are now taking steps to implement social media privacy laws—and many companies are implementing policies to try and safeguard customer data—these protections are not enough for the average user. Understanding the risks of sharing personal information on social media is one way users can begin to protect their privacy. However, it is also important for users to learn what additional steps they can take to limit how much of their personal data they expose on these sites.
The Risks of Sharing Personal Information on Social Media
What are the tangible problems around security and privacy in social networks? There are, in fact, many—and all users should be aware of these before they sign up for an account. This is because not paying attention to the risks of sharing personal information on social media can have significant implications on an individual’s—or company’s—reputation and finances, amongst other things.
While there are myriad issues around social media privacy to consider, here are some of the most pertinent.
- More susceptibility to hacking: One of the biggest problems with social media privacy is that scammers and cybercriminals can mine profiles for personal details that can be used as social engineering techniques in cyberattacks or to guess login credentials, for example.
- Increased exposure to phishing: Social media sometimes encourages interactions between strangers, and hackers exploit this to execute phishing attacks. For example, this can occur by sending unsolicited messages on Instagram that require the recipient to provide personal details to claim a prize for a fictitious contest.
- Real-time location tracking: Geotagging and real-time sharing means that it can be possible to track a particular user’s location at any given time—this can be especially dangerous, for example, if thieves use this to identify whether someone is at home.
- Potential for data mining: Social media data privacy is a major problem because these networks use data for most of their operations, including customizing services, showing ads, analyzing their customers, and building business models—information such as dates of birth, emails, and locations are prime for data-mining and social media platforms can do what they like with this.
- Potential for identity theft: With all the data that social media networks collect, they present a huge opportunity for cybercriminals to harvest information about individuals—this could lead to identity theft and financial scams, such as credit card fraud.
- Impact on job opportunities: Many employers admit to checking candidates’ social media profiles as part of the hiring process—the problem is that the lack of privacy on social media can impact careers if employers are making employment decisions based on what they see online.
- Exposure to cyberbullying: Social media gives ill-intentioned individuals the ability to bully or stalk others anonymously, which has already caused a significant mental health crisis, especially among teenagers.
- Potential risk of doxing: Malicious individuals can mine social media for private information that can later be released publicly to embarrass or otherwise negatively damage a person’s reputation.
- Loopholes that encourage data exposure: For example, even if one individual has strong privacy settings on their social media profile, the content they tag other people in could be shared publicly.
- Data sharing with third-parties: In most cases, the usage terms for social media platforms require users to agree to let the platform share information with third-parties, which can be used in various ways, such as for targeted advertising—this is a significant social media privacy concern and the reason why it is important to read these terms when registering an account.
- Permanent digital footprints: All posts on social media—including links, photos, and comments—remain part of the platform in question, even if the original user deletes their content, and can potentially be discovered at any time—this is why users should always take the time to consider the implications of posting something before going ahead.
- Additional attack vectors for malware: Social media gives cybercriminals an additional way to launch attacks, for example, by sending malware through private messages on these platforms.
- Addictive potential: Social media networks are designed to keep users engaged and active, but this can lead some to display obsessive behavior that impacts their real lives.
- Spread of misinformation: Because there is very little ability to regulate the content on social media, it is rife with false information and propaganda—the issue is so insidious that it has become nearly impossible to distinguish fact from fiction on these platforms.
Social Media and Privacy: Issues with Data
Understanding social network privacy issues is one step toward mitigating the problem. But users who really want to protect themselves while staying connected online should understand what type of data is most pertinent to these concerns. This can help them make more informed decisions about how they use these networks and what information they share.
In some cases, data is shared involuntarily, purely through the use of these networks. For example, tracking cookies on these sites track a user’s online activity, which could include what websites they visit, what they share on their profiles, and what they buy online. This type of data is particularly useful for advertisers, who can then create customized advertising segments to target particular users.
However, other details that third-parties—including hackers—might be able to harvest from social media include:
- Relationship status
- Employment history
- Religious affiliation
- Gender
- Age
- Phone numbers and email addresses
- Hometowns or current location (or even exact address)
- Check-in locations and geotags
- Hobbies
- Interests
- Shared photos, videos, personal updates, and links
- Social media engagement, such as likes and shares
All of this information is incredibly useful in profiling social media users. While this is often used to create personalized social media experiences—such as targeted ads and suggested accounts to follow—hackers can also mine this information to fine-tune social engineering tactics to increase the success of their attacks.
Social Media Privacy Laws
To address the lack of privacy on social media, many governments and international organizations have implemented legal instruments that help mitigate some of the issues that have arisen around these networks.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European policy that protects personal data. Among its many stipulations, the GDPR requires users to opt in or sign up for marketing and agree to privacy policies. The GDPR also includes the Right to be Forgotten law, which allows individuals to request that all their data be deleted from company databases.
The American equivalent of the GDPR is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which is a social media privacy law that came into effect in 2020. This limits the ability of tech companies to harvest data and bestows individuals with more power over the use and handling of their personal information. The CCPA could also dictate what data social media networks can collect from users.
The US also protects minors from social media privacy concerns through the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA). In effect since 2000, the law requires all online services and website operators to ensure the privacy of children under the age of 13. For example, sites must prove they have parental consent to collect personal information on minors, and limit how they can market to this group.
With cyberbullying another major issue, Australia introduced the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) law in 2022 to regulate network use alongside its Online Privacy Bill. Together, these help social media users file complaints against defamation, require the verification of users’ age, and implement penalties for privacy breaches.
Social Media Privacy Policy for Businesses
Businesses have a few unique privacy issues with social media, so it is essential for all companies and organizations to understand how to handle this. Understanding the concerns is important, but it is also crucial to create a strong social media privacy policy that protects the company, employees, and customers. Here are a few best practices for handling organizational social media accounts:
- Always ask for consent before posting.
- Understand the privacy policies of each social network being used.
- Develop a set of community rules and guidelines and be sure to moderate comments and posts.
- Make it clear to customers how and where their information may be used on social media networks.
- Erase data and posts on request.
- Create a clear social media policy—and a crisis management plan.
- If working with influencers, ensure they understand all the pertinent social media privacy concerns.
- Implement a system for dealing with breaches and hacks.
- Offer mandatory security awareness training for employees.
For most organizations, social media is now a key aspect of their marketing strategy. While these networks can be a great way to grow brand awareness and reach customers—and even make sales—it is important for companies to understand how clients perceive social media privacy and reassure them of the safety and privacy of their data.
How to protect yourself on social media
Of the many questions about privacy on social media, that of how to protect yourself on social media is arguably the most pertinent. Of course, it is possible to simply not create a social media account or otherwise use these platforms. However, in a digitally-connected society, this is impractical for most people – at the very least, most people will want a professional profile on LinkedIn for corporate networking. No matter how little or how extensively someone chooses to engage with social media, there are numerous measures that they can implement to mitigate social media privacy concerns. Here are a few things to consider:
- Avoid sharing trackable details: Try not to share details or photos and videos that allow followers to see live locations or daily routines – sharing after leaving a location is good practice.
- Never share any identification: Social security numbers, driver’s licenses, bank account numbers, passport numbers, or any other unique identification numbers represent one of the biggest social media security issues because they can result in identity theft and financial fraud.
- Share as few personal details as possible: Most social media platforms ask users to fill out an “About” section that includes birthdays, hometowns, schools, and interests – this can be used nefariously for social engineering, so share the absolute bare minimum.
- Try to limit followers: Social media is built around the idea that everyone is a potential friend, and cybercriminals play on this – except for public figures or those that otherwise require a public profile, it is best to only accept connection requests from people who are personally known or maintain a private account.
- Use strong passwords: Use a password manager to create and store unique passwords to enhance the security of social media accounts.
- Enable enhanced login features: To maximize social media data privacy, most social media platforms offer multifactor authentication and usually require users to enable this for additional security.
- Use heightened privacy settings: Most social media platforms enable basic default privacy settings when users set up an account, but the onus is on the user to fine-tune these—take the time to go through these and put them on the highest appropriate settings.
- Enable automatic logouts: Social networking sites usually have a setting that allows automatic logouts when accounts are accessed on unrecognized devices or unknown locations—make sure this setting is enabled.
- Avoid public Wi-Fi: Try not to log into social media accounts using public, insecure public Wi-Fi networks—hackers can use this to steal login credentials and take over the associated social media profile. If necessary, be sure to use a reliable virtual private network (VPN).
- Monitor security alert emails: Most social networks automatically send out security alerts by email when logins are attempted from unknown devices or locations – check these to make sure there are no unauthorized logins. Be aware that some security alert emails can be phishing scams, so avoid clicking links or attachments.
- Delete inactive accounts: Any social networking accounts that are dormant should be deleted as these are additional attack vectors for hackers.
- Keep software up to date: Ensure all software and apps—including browsers and social network apps—are up to date and deploy the latest security patches.
- Read the terms: When signing up for an account, take a few minutes to read the site’s terms to see what data will be taken and how it will be used—this can have significant implications for social media data privacy.
- Post with care: Even though they can be deleted, all photos, videos, and posts on social media leave a digital footprint. Additionally, photos that show identifiable details—such as boarding passes, school names, or street signs, can be used by cybercriminals.
- Turn off geolocations: In most cases, geolocation services are not required to use social media—turning this off also ensures posts are not automatically geotagged.
- Ensure friends and acquaintances are aware of your preferences: Social media usage has become so commonplace that many people forget to think about how posts may affect others—those who prefer not to appear in others’ posts—or, for example, do not want to publicly share images of their children—should make these concerns known. Always ask for permission before posting, and always take down posts if asked.
Understanding Social Media Privacy
With the pervasive use of these networks, social media privacy concerns are increasingly pertinent. While they have their benefits, it is up to the end user to understand how their data is managed by these sites. In most cases, people agree to terms of use without reading them thoroughly, giving social media networks the ability to profile users and sell their data to, for example, third-party advertisers. As such, there are many issues around social media privacy, and users should learn how to use these platforms while protecting themselves and their data as far as possible.
Related Articles and Links:
- Privacy exposure online…what’s the worst that could happen?
- Privacy first: How to protect your privacy online as business and personal use converge
- What is data theft and how to prevent it
- Facebook security
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