Random Thoughts – Randocity!

If you’re looking for guidance on installing any new software, you should always review the privacy policies, data retention policies and methods of deleting that data for any company providing a service. Let’s explore.

Instagram and Meta

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, wholly owns Instagram and now the new companion app released for Instagram called Threads. Threads is not a new app. It is, in fact, an old Instagram app that was discontinued in 2021… only to be born anew in 2023 with a new Twitter-like interface.

The problem with this app isn’t that it looks and feels like Twitter, but that is a problem which might born legal issues for Meta. No, the problem with Threads is who owns and operates this app.

If you already have an Instagram account and you enjoy using it, adding on Threads is likely not a problem. You likely already understand the pitfalls of owning an Instagram account.

On the other hand, if you have dropped using Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp and all other apps produced by Meta, then downloading Threads is out of the question.

Data Retention and Data Removal

We already know that Meta never removes any data on request. The best that Meta will ever do is disable an account. That’s it. Data stored on Meta’s servers remains there forever. Meta never purges data not even upon request.

What that means is that if you’re on the fence about installing Meta’s new Threads, you should be extremely cautious about installing this app and agreeing to those services. Threads may look like Twitter and act like Twitter, but the data you input into Threads will be stored and collected by Meta forever.

Even users who have attempted to delete Threads data or their account have already run into a roadblock over this issue.

Another, who already apparently signed up, was similarly displeased: “We can’t delete our threads account without deleting our Instagram? They knew people would instantly hate it so they made it a saw trap.”

Source: Fortune

What that means is that if you already have an established Instagram account, you cannot delete anything you write into Threads without also deleting your Instagram account. Be cautious when thinking about installing Threads.

Knowing Who You Are

Because Meta acts much like LexisNexis in data gathering involving its users both on and off Meta’s sites, Meta can easily correlate all of their stored data and know exactly who you are just by having their app installed on a specific phone device. This means that there is no way to hide who you are from Meta. Meta’s data aggregation and collection goes way beyond normal and into the frighteningly dangerous territory.

It’s even worse than it sounds. Meta collects data on everyone it possibly can, whether they have an account on Meta’s platforms or not. What this means is that if you become a new user to Facebook, Meta will find and link any previously collected data about you to your new Facebook profile. You may think your account is new, but in reality Facebook might have years worth of purchase history, web browsing history and other rather creepy, stalking data about you now attached to your brand new account profile. All of this data you have absolutely no control over. You might not even know that it’s attached as Meta is great at hiding the fact that they perform data collection and aggregation in the first place.

What does this mean for Threads?

Threads may seem like an innocent application to install, but because of the sheer ugly way that Meta handles its user’s data, it could actually turn into a nightmare for you. It only takes one “problematic” Threads message and you may end up with real world consequences. Attempting to delete your Thread data seems impossible at the moment.

Deactivation

What Meta typically tends to offer is hiding of data. What that means for you is that if you deactivate your account, the best that Instagram offers at this moment is that your Threads data should no longer remain visible to the Internet through Meta’s interfaces. However, your data still sits on a Meta server somewhere for a data breach to occur and be leaked to the public.

What deactivation means is no security at all. It simply covers Meta’s method of wanting to retain all data it collects, but at the same time attempts to placate users by hiding that data from prying eyes, at least for this moment in time.

Data Value and Threads

Unfortunately, Meta values its storage and aggregation of data more highly than it does user privacy. This means that should you choose to install and use Threads, you’re at the mercy of Meta’s lack of data privacy. As I said above in the deactivation area, it’s all about placating the user instead of actually doing the correct thing and expunging data on request.

It’s clear that Meta never expunges data. In fact, asking to have your Facebook account deleted doesn’t work. A Facebook account is never deleted. It is simply deactivated. Even if you fill out the correct forms and request a total data purge from Meta’s servers, Meta simply won’t do it.

How do I know? Because I still, to this day, receive emails from Meta requesting that I reactivate my Facebook account. If Meta had actually purged all of my data, that would include purging my email address from their system. Yet, they STILL haven’t done so in the 8 years since I requested my Facebook account deletion. Facebook still sends me emails!

Threads

What exactly is Threads? Threads is a reincarnated and redesigned version of an older app that Instagram had formerly released, but that shut down in December of 2021. This older Threads app was pulled from the platform and, or so we thought, was gone until today. Today, July 6th, 2023, Threads has been reborn as a Twitter clone.

I have never used the older Instagram version of Threads, so I cannot tell you how it worked or how close it might have been to Twitter’s interface. However, this 2023 version of Threads, by all accounts, mimics Twitter far too closely. Threads is actually so close to working like Twitter that Elon Musk is now threatening Meta with lawsuits over the release of Threads. I have no sympathy for Elon or Twitter as of now. I dumped Twitter months ago and haven’t looked back. If Elon is suffering at the hands of Meta’s Threads app, that’s really a problem of Elon’s making.

If Elon had continued to produce a robust, safe, trustworthy social networking application, Threads couldn’t succeed. Clearly, Elon’s Twitter is completely failing at being a “safe space.” Thus, Threads is taking off like wildfire.

This statement about Twitter’s lack of safety is not meant to imply that Threads is a “safe space”. Oh, no no no. It’s way too early to know exactly where Threads will land on the safety spectrum as yet, but I have my doubts.

Data Grab Twitter Clone

Twitter clones are not a new thing. Truth Social looks and acts far too much like Twitter. I don’t know why Musk hasn’t chosen to sue Donald Trump over Truth Social. Yet, Elon Musk feels the need to throw down the gauntlet on Meta? Unfortunately, since Musk’s takeover, Twitter has become a toxic cesspool of hate with right wing MAGA extremists.

Further, it also seems that Musk has slowly fallen into the MAGA right wing extremist camp himself, to the detriment of Twitter remaining a “safe space”. Musk had originally proclaimed to be mostly center politically, but his MAGA conspiracy actions have spoken far louder than any of his hollow words when claiming Twitter is a safe social space. To be honest, Twitter will remain an unsafe social space so long as Musk remains at the helm.

Twitter Killer?

Will Threads be the Twitter killer? Perhaps in a short term. Users flock to anything that’s new, particularly when the current mainstay is so completely toxic, inappropriately managed and is effectively being run into the ground. Anything that seems more stable and less toxic is likely to garner a lot of attention. Unfortunately, toxicity exists everywhere, including within Meta’s app spaces.

Jumping out of Elon’s Twitter dumpster fire and into Threads; this is simply just another dumpster fire in the making. It’s new, yes, but it’ll just as quickly become a toxic cesspool of hate speech. It remains to be seen if that toxic cesspool becomes a liberal hate ground or a conservative hate ground. The only way Threads can avoid the hate speech outcome is to ban political speech entirely on Threads.

If people want to talk politics, they would need to go somewhere else. Unfortunately, Meta doesn’t have the ambition to do that. Removal of political speech would remove too many people from their platform. Meta can’t afford to alienate that many people. Thus, it’s only a matter of time before Threads becomes the new place for political hate speech. That kind of hate speech is likely to come to Threads sooner rather than later. It’s highly unlikely that the Instagram team is prepared for the onslaught of garbage speech, moderation and removals required for what will become the new toxic application to hang out on.

Dumpster Fire

Unfortunately, Threads is already a dumpster fire and it doesn’t even yet know it. Meta understands what it takes to operate a large platform, but it clearly doesn’t understand how to properly manage social discourse. If the moderation tools in Threads are anything like Twitter… moderation which requires involvement of an Instagram staffer, then Threads will fail as spectacularly as Twitter.

The only way Twitter, or at least a platform like Twitter, can survive is to change the entire way it handles microblogging. Instead of requiring Meta’s staffers to handle removal requests, Meta should push the burden and consequences of moderation success or failure onto the thread creator. What this means is that as soon as a person creates a top level thread, it becomes that producer’s responsibility to police what’s said in that thread.

Of course, there will be reporting options to report clearly violating speech to Meta. However, the thread creator will need to handle the burden of dealing with any comments. If a user in the thread begins spewing hate speech, the thread creator should be responsible for taking care of that user’s speech and removing it, not Meta. If the thread creator fails to manage the thread, then the thread creator will get penalized for that lack of management… meaning, throttling, banning and ultimately suspension.

If you write microblog texts that elicit such negative user interactions and you choose to do nothing about those responses, then you as thread creator take equal blame when those comments are reported and removed by Meta. This forces the burden onto you, the thread creator, to limit who can comment on your threads to avoid such negative engagements.

Additionally, moderation tools need to drastically improve. Meaning, if a user comments, the comments should be held in a moderation queue until the thread creator can approve, delete or report the comments. If the thread creator must take the burden of comments in a thread, then moderation tools are required to help the thread creator manage those comments.

Unfortunately, I’m fairly certain that Threads didn’t design their app this way. Instead, it likely works just like Twitter, where Meta staff are required to manage bad actors.

Real Names

One thing that Meta does that Twitter doesn’t do is require the use of real names on its platforms. This means that if you sign up for any Meta service, you are required to supply your real name. This means that when using Meta’s services, your real name is easily seen. Whether Threads allows the user to hide this information is currently unknown, but I’d guess not.

Will this blog author sign up for Threads?

No. I’ve already pulled myself out of Meta’s universe of apps. I have no intention of signing up for Instagram simply to use Threads…. only to put myself right back into Meta’s garbage system all over again? No, I will not sign up for Threads.

Would I recommend anyone else to sign up for Threads?

No. Meta’s application universe is so majorly problematic (you can’t delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account), I can’t recommend anyone to sign up for or use any services that Meta supports, especially if you value your family’s privacy. Meta’s top apps to avoid include:

• Threads
• Facebook
• Instagram
• WhatsApp
• OculusVR
• Onavo
• Beluga

It’s also worth noting that Meta owns many, many small subsidiaries that you should avoid as well. Check out this list to see what other apps you should avoid. If you’re really, really interested in testing what Threads is all about, then I’d strongly recommend signing up for a brand new Instagram account under a different email address. Unfortunately, Instagram may determine that you already have another Instagram account and link them together. Be careful.

However, it should now be crystal clear that Meta’s newest Threads is a must avoid.

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