A follow-up report by security researchers Talal Hajj Bakri and Tommy Mysk claimed that Facebook Messenger and Instagram collect and use user data through link previews in a way that violates European privacy law, so what effect does this have on me as a user? What should I do?
Facebook Messenger and Instagram breach privacy
In October of last year, Bakri and Musk revealed that link previews in popular messaging apps can lead to security and privacy issues on iOS and Android. It has been discovered that applications can leak IP addresses, reveal links sent in end-to-end encrypted chats, download large files without users' consent, and copy private data through these link previews.
In this report, Bakri and Misk found that Facebook Messenger and Instagram behave unlike other messaging apps in that they downloaded the full contents of any link to their servers, regardless of size. When asked about this unusual behavior, they were told that Facebook had said it considered it a right business and that it was being done as intended.
Copies of link preview data saved on external servers may be subject to abuse or misuse, which may be of particular concern to users who send links to sensitive or confidential private data such as business documents, invoices, contracts, or medical records.
Facebook Messenger and Instagram comply with the European Union
Now, Bakri and Mesk have discovered that Facebook has recently stopped creating link previews in Messenger and Instagram for users in Europe to comply with European Union directives on online privacy. The change also applies to users outside of Europe if they communicate with someone in the region.
The researchers suggest that because Europe has some of the stricter privacy laws and Facebook has now removed link previews apparently to comply with the legislation, the company must have been using the data from the link previews in a way that would violate the Online Privacy Directive.
It is an implicit confirmation that Facebook's handling of link previews in Messenger and Instagram does not comply with privacy regulations in Europe, otherwise what prompted them to disable the feature! The suspension of this service in Europe strongly indicates that Facebook may be using this order for purposes other than creating previews.
Bakri and Mesk also believe that Facebook link previews may have violated some electronic privacy directive materials that include claims that personal data can only be accessed by authorized individuals for legal purposes. They also have to inform users and obtain user consent after providing them with “information. Clear and comprehensive ”on how the data were collected.
And since the links may relate to personal data, the Electronic Privacy Directive prohibits Facebook from storing, processing, or using this information without the explicit consent of users in the European Union. Facebook will also need to explain to users why it has downloaded the contents of the link previews before seeking approval.
Bakri and Misk explained that Facebook's servers download and store the content of the links sent through their applications, and if the same link is sent again, Facebook creates a preview of the link without downloading the link's contents. This allegedly indicates that the content is either stored or cached by Facebook and then the data is downloaded from the user's device.
What should I do as a user to prevent this?
Link previews continue to be available on Messenger and Instagram for users outside of Europe. The current Facebook Terms of Service stipulate that any content that users share through any of the Facebook services will be used for various purposes, such as personalizing content, ads, providing suggestions and identifying users, whether inside or outside Facebook products.
In Europe, the use of personal data now requires the explicit consent of users, even if approved through Facebook's Terms of Service.
Facebook has disabled link previews for users in Europe to comply with the new privacy regulations. This confirms our privacy concerns that sending links to private Messenger and Instagram files is not safe.
While Facebook has disabled link previews in Europe, users in other regions should refrain from sending links through any of these apps.
The best option would be to switch to other messaging apps that respect user privacy all over the world alike. Bakri and Mesk also recommended this.
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In the technical field there is no room for privacy
In any case.
The thing maker knows where to enter, exploits and manages what he wants.
You see, all social media programs do not maintain privacy
I am indispensable to Instagram and ٱڵٱڵۆٱټښ ٱپ 🙏☺️
Thankfully, I have boycotted Facebook since 2017, and Instagram has recently followed suit, the only obstacle is WhatsApp
Only jQuery can outperform these programs and make Apple available on all platforms
Get away from the snake and its hole and rest
In the personal opinion, all of them collect private data for live and dead users. I mean, what is in the Malak program, what does the user data matter? This is a summary.
If it is not the apps that respect privacy
We told and commented, and you said many times that all of Zuberberg's software, the owner of Facebook, is pure espionage, and the solution is for the movement to continue to move to new programs. The only pressure method
The violation of privacy is clear and for a long time through friendship proposals received from these parties..and most of the proposals are from family, friends, co-workers, etc...How did they know our relationship with them?
I am not against your opinion, but they may suggest these people based on their contacts or friends of friends
So I show me those proposals