In the News
Is social media spam driving you nuts? If so, you are not alone. In To cut down on spam, Twitter cuts the number of accounts you can follow per day, Sarah Perez at TechCrunch discusses Twitter’s decision to reduce the number of accounts one can follow per day by half to just 400 accounts. Perez explains that this is meant to reduce the amount of spam that Twitter users are inundated with as a result of mass account follows and unsuspecting users who typical follow back any accounts that accompany them first. Perez states that this is an additional move by Twitter to crack down on the influx of spam on the social networking site.
Our Take
Social media platforms are used as an outlet for expression and as a form of entertainment. However, the insurgence of spam plaguing your news feed is often not the desired experience. Although lots of spam can be harmless in terms of data security, clicking on ads for companies/accounts that you are unfamiliar with could potentially result in successful phishing attacks or the installation of malware onto your devices. While Twitter’s new restrictions on account follows per day is a positive step towards reducing the annoyance of spam and potentially your information privacy, it does not seem to be enough to completely stop the occurrence of spam bots on the platform. To reduce the impact of spam on your social media experience, refrain from following all accounts that follow you first and try to not click on random ads or links (always search in a separate browser).
Recommendations
How can you protect the security and privacy of your devices and their contents?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Only follow/friend individuals that you know on social media and accounts that you trust
- Refrain from clicking on ads and quizzes embedded in a social media platform
- Refrain from sharing highly sensitive information through messaging apps and services
- Utilize additional security/privacy measures and settings on apps, accounts, and platforms whenever possible