Instagram’s new app — Threads – has some lawyers and researchers worried. Privacy concerns and Facebook’s precarious history is raising alarm about the app’s commitment to protecting user data. 

Two articles by Bloomberg Law and Time examine Threads' relationship to Meta and how it’s collecting information on users. 

University of Michigan School of Information assistant professor of information Nazanin Andalibi, an expert on social media and privacy, discusses her concerns with the new platform. 

“There really wasn’t much about what data is going to be collected, kind of how it’s going to be used, or what it’s going to be used for,” Andalibi said. 

The collection of personal information between all of Meta’s platforms, which include Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and now Threads, means more and more information is being assembled from users. 

Andalibi says users should be wary of “going further into the Meta ecosystem” by signing up for a new app like Threads because all of it is going back to the same company. 

RELATED

Read “Meta Creates Privacy Risks by Tying New Threads App to Instagram” on Bloomberg Law. 

Read “Why Some Experts are Concerned about Meta’s Threads’ Data Collection” on Time. 

Learn more about Nazanin Andalibi’s research and publications by visiting her UMSI faculty profile and personal website.