For this blog post, I downloaded all the information that Instagram has on me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the only personal personal information they have on me is my hometown (Eugene, OR) and my contacts, at least on the surface. I was not-as-pleasantly surprised to find that they keep track of every time I have ever changed the text in my bio. I thought I was clever in like — 2015, apparently (“Pointe shoes are the real high heels”). It was interesting to learn that Instagram keeps track of all the content I have “seen” as well as anything I have ever written or received, whether that be comments or “private” direct messages.
I found that one of the sources of information Instagram has on me is called “Ads Interests.” Listed under this section is everything from “shopping and fashion” to “dogs” to “rice.” One of the economic incentives of social media including Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, is to make money through advertisements. On a platform in which we are constantly showing our approval of things through likes and comments, it is incredibly easy for Instagram to know what things we like and are likely to spend our money on. As a business model, it is super intelligent; since we are more likely to interact with ads that align with our hobbies, passions, and likes, using information we willingly provide to the platform to discern those things is a good way to increase ad money. Personally, I do not really mind that my ads are tailored to me. While I may not buy the exact product advertised, the ads I get sometimes give me inspiration to buy similar products.
One thing I found unnerving is that Instagram also keeps track of every time I change my password. Since I have never changed my password for this account, it does not have anything recorded as of now. When logging into the app, I have never thought about the fact that the password I input is saved somewhere, while that might seem obvious. The implications of this is that Instagram has access to a password that I use for almost everything (This is dangerous, and I should change it, I know). If the saved information were ever sold or otherwise used for malicious intents, a single platform could potentially be able to access everything I have ever put on the internet.
In addition, it is concerning that I have essentially given Instagram permission to read through all of my messages and conversations. In the “information about you” section, they claimed to only know the city I live in, but from my DMs and comments, they can definitely glean further information about where I go to school, who my friends and family are, etc. While none of it is necessarily information that my life would end if it was broadcast to the world, it still feels like an invasion of privacy. That being said, in the time being, during which we are hard-pressed to stop social media platforms from saving (and or distributing) our information, I believe we should operate under the assumption that nothing we say or do on the Internet is private.
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