In the News
Social media privacy takes another hit. In A Twitter bug exposed some Android users’ protected tweets for years, Dami Lee at The Verge discusses a security flaw in Twitter’s system that left user Tweets dating back to 2014 vulnerable by altering a user’s privacy settings. Lee explains that Twitter has not released the number of users impacted by this flaw, but noted that only Android users were affected.
Our Take
It is often contradictory to associate the need for privacy, and social media use given that social media was created to share information. However, especially in today’s society, the importance of data privacy is more relevant than ever before. Privacy settings allow an individual to theoretically control the amount of personal information shared with the world and are a crucial component of giving users a say in how their data is used by social media platforms. While not all users choose to enable the available privacy settings, the reality of a security flaw changing such settings without informing the user is damaging to their privacy and trust in the company. In a society where technology flaws are all too common, it is essential that you as a user take the personal responsibility to check your settings occasionally to maintain your desired level of privacy.
Recommendations
How can you protect your personal information while using social media?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Make sure that you update all application and programs regularly to ensure you are using the most current and secure version
- Refrain from sharing highly sensitive information about yourself or others on social media platforms
- Don’t reuse your account passwords, and take advantage of multi-factor authentication where possible
- Stay up to date on the news covering recent breaches to see if you may have been affected