Meta's Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are amongst the worst offenders when
it comes to social media privacy - here's what you need to know

Date:
Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:26:00 +0000

Description:
Discord takes top spot in social media privacy report, while Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, land at the bottom with TikTok.

FULL STORY

Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram have once again been flagged as among the most privacy-invasive social media platforms.

Incognis updated Social Media Privacy Ranking report for 2025 placed Metas products alongside TikTok at the bottom of its list.

X, the platform owned by divisive billionaire Elon Musk, also scored poorly
in several categories, although it performed better than Metas services in
some areas, positioning it mid-table.

Discord shows how it should be done

Incognis researchers evaluated the 15 most widely used social media platforms worldwide, weighing them against 14 privacy criteria grouped into six categories.

These included data collection, transparency, AI data use, regulatory transgressions, user control, and ease of access.

The methodology focused on how easily an ordinary user can understand and act on privacy policies, not only whether the information exists in the first place.

At the other end of the spectrum, Discord, Pinterest, and Quora performed
best in this years ranking.

Discord topped the list after avoiding many of the pitfalls other platforms faced, especially its stance on not providing user data for training
generative AI models.

Pinterest came in second, due mostly to strong user options and relatively
few regulatory penalties. Quora took third thanks to limited data collection.

It will likely come as little surprise to most that Metas platforms were penalized heavily across all categories.

Facebook stood out for repeated regulatory fines , including multiple violations of GDPR rules in Europe, as well as penalties in the US and other jurisdictions.

Instagram and WhatsApp also contributed to Metas low ranking, with policies allowing the collection of sensitive information such as health data and
sexual orientation.

X faced penalties for extensive data collection and past privacy-related
fines, although it ranked higher than Meta and TikTok in some areas.

It was among the easiest platforms for users to delete accounts from, and its rate of disclosing information to government agencies was lower than most.

Still, its policies allow user data to be used for training AI models, which lowered its overall privacy score.

AI-related concerns had a much larger impact compared to last year.

Reddit, which had previously been considered one of the safer platforms, fell in the ranking after its content was made available to AI developers.

Discords avoidance of such practices helped propel it upward.

Transparency was another big factor. Many social platforms lacked clear
details on how quickly data is deleted when users close their accounts.

TikTok, Telegram, and Reddit offered limited details, which lowered their scores.

Snapchat was also singled out for disclosing information to government
agencies at a higher rate than most competitors.

Ultimately, the report concludes that user privacy remains unevenly handled across platforms. Consent can only be meaningful if information is both available and easy to understand.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/metas-facebook-whatsapp-and-instagram-are-amongs t-the-worst-offenders-when-it-comes-to-social-media-privacy-heres-what-you-nee d-to-know

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