Safer Internet: Keep Social Media Sort of Private-ish

Quotes

Summary

"Social" media is by its nature un-private.
"Free" services rely on collecting and selling your information.
[1] Consider limiting the info & photos that you post or share -- it's difficult to delete
[1] Don't assume 'private' messages really are; Don't assume 'secret' services really are
[1] Limit friend lists and apps
[1] Review vendors' Terms & Conditions: these are incomprehensible and changing,
and grant them broad rights to use your freely given info -- pretty much however they want
[1] Review the privacy policies & settings for each site or service you use;
{Figure 17: TCYOP-4: 143; TCYOP-3: 117}
Policies: e.g., Facebook; Google; Linkedin; Twitter
Settings: e.g., Facebook; Google+; Linkedin; Twitter
[1] Realize that sensitive info, e.g., health, financial, entered in other apps may be shared with Facebook, without your permission -- hopefully this will decrease as more of these apps/practices are exposed
[1] Don't use SSO (Single Sign On) to log into 3rd party sites using your Facebook credentials
[1] Minimize Facebook tracking of your browsing activities across the web:
on computer: use Firefox web browser, with Facebook Container add-on that isolates your browsing activities from Facebook.
on your phone: delete the Facebook mobile app and use Facebook.com only via the mobile browser.
Install a tracker blocker, like Disconnect.me, and activate the blocking.
Alternatively, you can install a private web-browsing app like Firefox Focus,
which blocks trackers by default, and only use this browser when loading Facebook.com.
[1] Beware of impostors, e.g., a sockpuppet is an online identity used for purposes of deception; catfishing is a type of deceptive activity where a person creates a sock puppet social networking presence, or fake identity on a social network account, usually targeting a specific victim for deception.
[1] Avoid providing personal details to 'fun' polls / quizzes
-- now available to marketers, and to hackers ('secret answers' for accounts)
[1] When you finally realize that the settings & privacy policies & empty promises of the major players don't actually protect you or your information, drastically minimize your usage or just deactivate / remove your account
[1] Enable 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) -- see Passwords: 2FA
[2] If you must share information with a group, switch to services that do support privacy, e.g., Slack.
The inertia of moving your family / friends / workgroup also makes this option particularly difficult
[2] Request the data they've collected about you, e.g., Facebook;
see section Who Wants Your Private Data : Companies

References

{TCYOP-4: 137-146; TCYOP-3: 115-120; Understand the Privacy Risks of Social Media: Check Your Privacy Settings; Use Other Social Media Precautions: HTTPS:, passwords, Limit your friend lists, Don't assume "private" messages really are, Don't assume "secret" services really are, Limit apps, Think carefully about pseudonyms; When Privacy Hurts}
sections: Refs: Dating; Facebook; Genealogy, DNA Testing; Instagram; LinkedIn; NextDoor; Parler; Tiktok; Twitter
topics: GDPR,
Wikipedia: social networking service: Facebook; LinkedIn
Wikipedia: Cyberbullying; troll; revenge porn
HowStuffWorks: What is a social networking site?
HowStuffWorks: Top 10 Things You Should Not Share on Social Networks
HowStuffWorks: What are the pros and cons of social networking sites?
HowStuffWorks: Why do people share embarrassing information online?
AARP: Social Media TEK (Technology Education and Knowledge) Center
Ethical.Net: Social media; Conferences & Meetups; Team collaboration
How to Use Discord: A Beginner's Guide Wired; 6/3/2024
How to Close the Social Media Accounts of a Dead Relative LH; 1/3/2024
What is Bluesky? Everything to know about the app trying to replace Twitter TC; 11/14/2023
Is Social Media Addictive? Here’s What the Science Says. NYT; 10/25/2023
Try Topical Alternatives to Social Media TB; 10/18/2023
11 Social Media Platforms You Probably Forgot Existed (And Why They Failed)
Orkut, Google Buzz, Google+, Friendster, Ping, FriendFeed,
Vine, Periscope, Path, Yik Yak, Yahoo! 360; MF; 9/20/2023
How the Social Media Wars Will Change the Internet NYT; 7/15/2023
The Five Best Twitter Alternatives LH; 7/5/2023
Threads, Instagram's 'Twitter Killer,' Has Arrived NYT; 7/5/2023
An overview of Twitter alternatives, including Mastodon, Bluesky, and Nostr, and how they might evolve and improve
6 months after Elon Musk's takeover; TD; 4/28/2023
The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social mostly brands and influencers; to restore a sense of community, some users are trying smaller social networks; NYT; 4/19/2023
The best Twitter alternatives worth checking out TC; 1/27/2023
Is Your Future Distributed? Welcome to the Fediverse! e.g., Mastodon; TB; 1/27/2023
Stop Using Social Media Apps. The Web Version Is Often Better Wired; 12/31/2022
The Great Delusion Behind Twitter: The Town Square NYT; 12/11/2022
A profile of iNaturalist, a not-for-profit social network that uses an ML algorithm
to help users identify plants and animals, driving cooperation and consensus NYT; 12/9/2022
A Journey Into the Misinformation Fever Swamps
disinformation and misinformation on social media; NYT; 8/26/2022
This site exposes the creepy things in-app browsers from TikTok and Instagram might track InAppBrowser.com; Verge; 8/19/2022
Instagram and Facebook Could Track Everything You Do in Their In-App Browsers TB; 8/15/2022
The Least-Awful Social Media Sites for Anyone Who Wants to Be Less Unhappy
MeWe, WT.Social, 500px, Discourse, etc.; LH; 7/6/2022
Truth Social Review: Trump's Uncensored Social App Is Incomplete
app is inundated with phony accounts and features that don’t work. It also hides some posts, including those with curse words; NYT; 4/287/2022
Steps to Simple Online Security: Lock down social media accounts;
Digital security for online dating and sexting NYT; 4/22/2022
How to Stop Doomscrolling -- With Psychology Wired; 3/30/2022
How to Set Healthy Boundaries Around What You Share Online Wired; 3/26/2022
AARP-backed social network looks to lure older users from Facebook
Senior Planet Community focuses on shared interests, discourages off-topic political rants; Ars; 3/23/2022
Trump's Truth Social has been almost entirely inaccessible in its first few days due to technical glitches, a 13-hour outage, and a 300,000-person waitlist WaPo; 2/23/2022
Trump's Truth Social Is Poised to Join a Crowded Field
hard-right alternative to Twitter; NYT; 2/18/2022
How to Beat Social Media Algorithms (and Why You Should Try)
Don't confirm the algorithm’s assumptions;
Eliminate suggested feeds when possible;
Use platforms without your account when possible;
Use a burner account; LH; 1/17/2022
Can We Have a Meaningful Life in a Virtual World? David Chalmers; NYT; 12/10/2021
He Conceived of the Metaverse in the '90s. He’s Unimpressed With Mark Zuckerberg's. Neal Stephenson; NYT; 12/13/2021
Apple's Privacy Policy Cost Snap, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube an Estimated $9.85 Billion in Revenue
Apple's App Tracking Transparency policy; Giz; 10/31/2021
The First Amendment in the Information Age
podcast; transcript; Yale; 10/4/2021
A look at content moderation on Clubhouse, where discussions have included homophobia, anti-Semitism, harassment, and the like, as media increases its scrutiny Bloom; 1/26/2021
MeWe: Fast-Growing Alternative To Facebook And Twitter Finds Post-Trump Surge 'Messy' NPR; 1/22/2021
6 Privacy-Focused Alternatives to the Apps You Use Every Day Signal for Messaging; Firefox for Web Browsing; DuckDuckGo for Search; OsmAnd for Maps; ProtonMail for Email; Jumbo for Social Media; Wired; 12/13/2020
How Trump's presidency has changed the internet from fueling conspiracy theories to forcing social media platforms to reexamine their content policies; Atl; 10/30/2020
How Facebook and Other Sites Manipulate Your Privacy Choices dark patterns; 'Privacy Zuckering': when “you are tricked into publicly sharing more information about yourself than you really intended to; Wired; 8/12/2020
What Is Randonautica Really About? NYT; 7/31/2020
Vet Your Social Media before hitting like or retweet on a post about the protests, it’s important to know that the accounts you are following are trustworthy; NYT; 6/17/2020
Let's Go Through Trump's Terrible Internet Censorship Order, Line By Line Spoiler: you can't nationalize Twitter; Verge; 5/29/2020
Finally, There's a Social Network Without Any People Botnet; MB; 2/13/2020
Why Is Social Media So Addictive? Giz; 2/10/2020
You’re probably more susceptible to misinformation than you think 1/10/2020
Should You Send That DM? direct messaging; NYT; 12/10/2019
Wikipedia’s co-founder takes on Facebook with ad-free social network WT:Social; TNW; 11/15/2019
We Need a PBS for Social Media Instead of breaking up Facebook, America should create a public alternative; NYT; 9/24/2019
Build an Online Presence Without Giving Up Privacy careers; NYT; 9/3/2019
The Horrible Place Between the Apps addiction; many of us have half-quit apps like Twitter and Instagram; NYT; 7/4/2019
Watch out for Social Media Scams and Protect Your Data AARP; 6/2019
7 Pieces of Personal Information You Should Think Twice About Sharing On Social Media
1. Your Phone Number;
2. Your Home Address;
3. Pictures of Your Passport Or Driver's License;
4. Your Hometown and Full Date Of Birth;
5. Your Financial Information;
6. Answers To Your Password Security Questions;
7. Clubs Or Other Affiliations; MF; 5/30/2019
Pl@ntNet, a social collaborative app for identifying plants shows how good social media can be without the engagement imperative; 5/25/2019
The New Social Network That Isn't New at All email newsletter; NYT; 3/19/2019
How TikTok Is Rewriting the World an app for making and sharing short videos; NYT; 3/10/2019
How to Find Websites That Won't Give Out Your Private Information some websites are encrypted, some are ad-free; LH; 2/6/2019
Research shows self-reported heavy Facebook users make impaired decisions, like drug addicts on a classic test of maximizing rewards; TC; 1/10/2019

Dating

Best dating apps/sites CNet; 8/31/2023
When Romance Is a Scam NYT; 3/27/2020
30% of US adults say they have used a dating app or website up from 11% in 2013, with 12% saying they found a long-term relationship via online dating; Pew; TC; 2/6/2020
Grindr and OkCupid Spread Personal Details, Study Says NYT; 1/13/2020
How to Maintain (Relative) Privacy on Dating Apps Edit details pulled from your social media accounts; Don’t give out your number so quickly; Turn off location settings; Consolidate your dating identities; Delete the app; LH; 2/15/2019
FTC: Americans lost ~$143M to online dating scams in 2018, which was number one in terms of dollar loss when compared to other types of fraud NYT; 2/13/2019

Facebook

Wikipedia: Facebook
HowStuffWorks: How Facebook Works; Myths; Quiz
HowStuffWorks: How to Update Your Facebook Privacy Settings; Is Facebook sharing your personal information?
for Messenger, see section Talk and Chat Privately
Facebook Change Ensures Tracking by Preventing URL Stripping TB; 7/19/2022
What to Know About Facebook's New 'Privacy Center' LH; 1/20/2022
How to Recover When Your Facebook Account Is Hacked
there's only so much you can do;
Scenario 1. You let a family member or friend 'borrow' your Facebook account on your computer or phone;
Scenario 2. Someone uses your photo and name and sets up a new account;
Scenario 3. Someone guesses your account password and proceeds to lock you out of your account;
Verge; 12/7/2021
How to Permanently Delete Your Facebook Account Wired; 10/11/2021
Leaked documents reveal the special rules Facebook uses for 5.8M VIPs
"These people can violate our standards without any consequences."; Ars; 9/13/2021
It's Time to Switch to a Dummy Email Address on Facebook leaked when they're set to private; LH; 4/21/2021
Facebook Doesn't Need Your Real Phone Number LH; 1/26/2021
How Facebook Can Slow QAnon for Real NYT; 9/21/2020
Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World major ways that authoritarian regimes exploit Facebook and other social media services:
organize countermovements to emerging civil society or protest movements;
frame the public debate along their terms;
let citizens voice complaints without direct appeal or protest;
coordinate among elites to rally support;
aid in the surveillance and harassment of opposition activists and journalists;
NYT; 9/18/2020
Use These Tools to Delete All of Your Old Facebook Posts LH; 6/4/2020
NSO Group Impersonated Facebook to Help Clients Hack Targets MB; 5/20/2020
How a Digital Ad Strategy That Helped Trump Is Being Used Against Him NYT; 4/28/2020
How to Stop Bots From Sending You Facebook Friend Requests LH; 1/25/2020
Change These Facebook Settings to Protect Your Photos From Facial Recognition Software LH; 1/21/2020
Facebook says it will no longer use phone numbers provided for 2FA for friend suggestions stopped their use for ad targeting in June; Reut; 12/19/2019
Facebook bug shows camera activated in background during app use scrolling thru feed on iOS; CNet; 11/12/2019
Facebook suspends tens of thousands of apps in ongoing privacy investigation Apps improperly obtained user data, installed malware, and committed other offenses; Ars; 9/20/2019
How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook's New Dating Service LH; 9/6/2019
Don't Trust Facebook With Your Love Life NYT; 9/5/2019
Facebook leak contained phone numbers for 419 million users in some cases the data included the user’s real name, gender, and country; TNW; 9/4/2019
Many Are Abandoning Facebook. These People Have the Opposite Problem. disabled accounts; NYT; 8/22/2019
Facebook's New Tool Lets You See Which Apps and Websites Tracked You Off-Facebook Activity; NYT; 8/20/2019
Change These Facebook Settings to Make Your Voice Recordings More Private LH; 8/13/2019
5 Things to Know About Military Romance Scams on Facebook NYT; 7/28/2019
Facebook Connected Her to a Tattooed Soldier in Iraq. Or So She Thought. Renee Holland sent her Facebook friend thousands of dollars. She became entwined in a global fraud that the social network and the United States military appear helpless to stop; Facebook seems unable or unwilling to address accounts that use others' photos as their own profile pictures; NYT; 7/28/2019
How to Fight Back Against Data Broker Advertising on Facebook LH; 7/12/2019
No, You Still Shouldn't Let Facebook Pay You to Track Your Phone Habits 'Study from Facebook' Android app; LH; 6/12/2019
Facebook's Notifications Are Out of Control. Here's How to Tame Them. NYT; 5/30/2019
How to Disable Facebook's Automatic Face Recognition Setting (If You Can) LH; 5/21/2019
Thanks to Facebook, Your Cellphone Company Is Watching You More Closely Than Ever Int; 5/20/2019
5 Takeaways From (co-founder) Chris Hughes's Call to Break Up Facebook NYT; 5/9/2019
Facebook passwords for hundreds of millions of users were exposed to Facebook employees PC; 4/18/2019
Facebook Is Stealing Your Family's Joy more fun to share in person; NYT; 4/12/2019
App Developers Left 540 Million Facebook Users' Records on the Public Internet third-party Facebook app by Cultura Colectiva left 540M+ records of users' FB info exposed on Amazon WS; MB; 4/3/2019
Facebook will no longer ask for people's email passwords used to verify some new accounts; CNet; 4/3/2019
Facebook Did Not Securely Store Passwords. Here's What You Need to Know. NYT; 3/21/2019
I Deleted Facebook Last Year. Here's What Changed (and What Didn't) NYT; 3/21/2019
Hackers Used Facebook Quizzes to Steal Data from 60,000 Users users were prompted to install browser extensions; MF; 3/12/2019
Facebook Promises Encrypted Messaging (and Privacy-Abusing Business as Usual) TB; 2/7/2019
Some popular Android apps are still sending your data to Facebook Privacy International is demanding an investigation after discovering apps are still connected to Facebook; CNet; 3/6/2019
Facebook is introducing a new 'Tributes' section for memorialized accounts TC; 3/4/2019
How to Protect Your Facebook Without Giving It Your Phone Number if you need to use SMS for 2FA, some privacy settings may help; (or just remove phone#s and use authenticator app); Giz; 3/4/2019
Facebook has urged users to enable phone number-based 2FA, but the numbers are used in a user lookup feature with no opt out and to target ads Settings > Mobile: remove all numbers; setup 2FA with an authenticator app/PM; TC; 3/3/2019
Popular Apps Cease Sharing Data With Facebook WSJ; 2/24/2019
You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook. WSJ; 2/23/2019
How to report a problem on Facebook Verge; 2/25/2019
Facebook VPN that snoops on users is pulled from Android store Onavo Protect VPN (removed for iOS 8/2018); Facebook also stops recruiting new users for controversial "Research" program; Ars; 2/22/2019
You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook. like user's heart rate, intent to get pregnant, home listings viewed to Facebook via analytics SDK provided by the company; e.g., Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor; Flo Period and Ovulation Tracker; Move Inc; WSJ; 2/22/2019
How to stop Facebook from tracking your location And, iOS; TNW; 2/21/2019
Behold, the Facebook phishing scam that could dupe even vigilant users HTML block almost perfectly reproduces Facebook single sign-on (SSO) Window; Ars; 2/16/2019
What is a Facebook 'legacy contact' and why do you need one? allowed to have limited access to your account after your death; TNW; 2/15/2019
Fed Up with Facebook? Move Your Family to Slack TB; 2/12/2019
Germany orders Facebook to stop combining data from WhatsApp, Instagram, and third-party sites with data in a user's main Facebook account without their consent BBC; 2/7/2019
What Was Your Facebook Breaking Point? LH; 2/6/2019
Maybe Only Tim Cook Can Fix Facebook's Privacy Problem NYT; 1/30/2019
Apple Shuts Down Facebook's Internal Apps Due to Flagrant Policy Violations TB; 1/30/2019
Does Facebook Really Know How Many Fake Accounts It Has? maximum number of active fake accounts Facebook reported each quarter was significantly smaller than the number of fake accounts it said it took down; plus many duplicate accounts; NYT; 1/30/2019
This Is Your Brain Off Facebook a major new study offers a glimpse of what unplugging might do for your life. (Spoiler: It's not so bad.); more in-person time with friends and family. Less political knowledge, but also less partisan fever. A small bump in one's daily moods and life satisfaction. And, for the average Facebook user, an extra hour a day of downtim; NYT; 1/30/2019
Could The 10-Year Challenge Be Putting Your Data At Risk? data from the challenge could be used by companies like Facebook or Amazon to train facial recognition algorithms; NPR; 1/20/2019
Most Facebook users don't know that it records a list of their interests, new study finds 74% of people weren't aware of Facebook's methods; Verge; 1/16/2019
Facebook is the new crapware pre-installed Android app can't be deleted; TC; 1/9/2019

Genealogy, DNA Testing

'The GoFundMe Generation' Wants to Pay to Solve Murders NYT; 3/27/2022
Your DNA Test Could Send a Relative to Jail
'genetic genealogy'; NYT; 12/27/2021
Why a Data Breach at a Genealogy Site Has Privacy Experts Worried GEDmatch; NYT; 8/1/2020
23andMe vs. AncestryDNA: Which ancestry DNA kit is better? PC; 12/11/2019
Genealogy Site GEDMatch Is Now Owned by a Forensics Company (Verogen) LH; 12/10/2019
Privacy And DNA Tests NPT; 11/9/2019
Which DNA Databases Are the Best and Worst for Privacy? 23andme and Ancestry are among the least risky; Genealogy databases that allow uploads are the ones with the major privacy concerns; LH; 4/10/2019
Study: by the start of 2019, over 26M consumers have added their DNA to four leading commercial ancestry and health databases, primarily AncestryDNA MIT; 2/11/2019
FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I. NYT; 2/4/2019
How to Keep the FBI From Accessing Your FamilyTreeDNA Results check privacy/match settings; LH; 2/1/2019
DNA testing firm FamilyTreeDNA is working with the FBI and allowing agents to search its 1M+ DNA profiles user concerns about data privacy; BF; 1/31/2019

Instagram

Wikipedia: Instagram
HowStuffWorks: How Instagram Works
How to Avoid the Worst Instagram Scams Wired; 7/6/2022
How to delete your Instagram account Verge; 7/2/2022
Instagram Doesn't Own Your Photos, But They Can Still Use Them Forever LH; 8/21/2019
How to Make Your Instagram Account as Private as Possible LH; 7/2/2019

HowStuffWorks: How LinkedIn Works
Delete LinkedIn -- you'll have zero *** regrets TNW; 2/18/2021
Tap LinkedIn for Career Opportunities NYT; 10/31/2020
People Are Looking At Your LinkedIn Profile. They Might Be Chinese Spies NPR; 9/19/2019
Why Aren't We Talking About LinkedIn? Twitter helps the powerful discover their worst selves and leaves everyone else vulnerable. Facebook brings people together only to subject them to marketing and manipulation; LinkedIn is more like a workplace where people behave with employers in mind; NYT; 8/8/2019

Safer Internet: Keep Social Media Sort of Private-ish

Quotes

Summary

References

Dating

Facebook

Genealogy, DNA Testing

Instagram

LinkedIn

Mastodon

Metaverse

NextDoor

Parler

Tiktok

Twitter / X