Social Media Privacy issues:

Social Media sites like snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and twitter has incredible amount of access to

information about their users. These sites have records on user’s name, gender, birthday, social views

regarding politics or religion, relationship status, education, employment, and much more. This raises a

much serious question on the entities who are responsible for maintain the privacy and avoiding misuse of

the data. Now a days there are vital discussions regarding the legal perspective on accessing people’s

information through these websites. Argument in favor of these sites say that people themselves willingly

disclose their information on these sites so privacy concern doesn’t arise. However, research by Jones and

soltren, 2005 (“Facebook: Threats to Privacy”), stated that users disclose too much personal information

on these sites and don’t Know that there are third parties who seek out user’s information for their benefit.

There are several examples where social media could be a real disadvantage for the user. In case of jobs,

an employee should be aware that his postings on social media sites could be easily access by his boss

which could lead to problems for them. Privacy concerns are raised on Facebook as it uses software’s which

can recognize users in pictures uploaded through facial recognition in this way, they are not only aware of

your friends but also where you live or where you were recently. A recent privacy concern was raised when

a British advertising company claimed to have access over worlds largest database which included data on

people’s complete internet behavior, and they told that they got this data from websites like Facebook. This

means that anyone can retrieve personal data of people from social media websites and could use it to their

benefit which is a serious concern (Qi, Man, 2011). Governments could use their power to demand personal

information from these sites which will enable them to trample on freedom of association. These sites have

raised issues like spamming, hacking and scamming which has affected people. Employers, police are using

social media sites for retrieving information about people thy are interested in. in this way your employer

is aware when you are lying to your boss. And a criminal’s information is in risk if police get access of it.

Even this is a good way of catching criminals, but privacy concerns remain there. In case if you are
unknowingly a friend of a criminal or even knowingly, you will be included in the investigation unwantedly

and will have to face the consequences. So in this way social media raises severe privacy issues.

Account Hacking and impersonation: With the increase in grasp on technology spammers and hackers

are targeting social networks. Viruses, malwares and scams are been spread now a days using social media

sites. Even worse is the case where cyber criminals use your personal information to open credit card

accounts in your name and misuse it.

The privacy downside of location based services:

Now a days most of the social media sites are used through mobile phones which allows the sites to retrieve

user’s location. Most people’s smartphone settings are set on automatic which enables sites to collect

information on your location which could be series issue. Location may seem like an almost innocuous

piece of data, but it could be used to trace a picture of your daily routine which will enable criminal to play

their role. For example, what more should a burglar know from you when he is aware that you are out on

vacation and there is no one in your house.

How to avoid Privacy concerns on social media sites:

The simplest way of getting rid of privacy concerns is to delete social media site apps, which is impossible

for many. Because social media sites are a way to connect to your friends and family members. A person

away from Facebook, Instagram will be least aware what is going on in the world which itself is a big

disadvantage. However, privacy issues could be tackled technically. Users should avoid clickbait, which

means avoid clicking random things like “check with whom you look like” or “like or share and see the

magic”. These links are a trap for innocent users and sites like Facebook takes no responsibility of third

party apps. Moving onwards, your mobile phone location should be manually set where it is needed, social

media sites should not have access over your day to day location. Furthermore, avoid fake news, now a
days a eye catching title is been added to the links so that people click them in curiosity which are all spams

and have a negative impact on the users activity.

References:
Qi, Man, and Denis Edgar-Nevill. "Social Networking Searching And Privacy Issues".
Information Security Technical Report, 2011. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.istr.2011.09.005.

Debatin, Bernhard et al. "Facebook And Online Privacy: Attitudes, Behaviors, And
Unintended Consequences". Journal Of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol 15, no. 1,
2009, pp. 83-108. Oxford University Press (OUP), doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01494.x.

Sánchez Abril, Patricia et al. "Blurred Boundaries: Social Media Privacy And The Twenty-
First-Century Employee". American Business Law Journal, vol 49, no. 1, 2012, pp. 63-124.
Wiley, doi:10.1111/j.1744-1714.2011.01127.x.

"5 Social Media Site Privacy Issues You Should Worry About". Infosec Resources, 2019,
https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/5-social-media-site-privacy-issues-worry/#gref.

Senthil Kumar N et al. "On Privacy And Security In Social Media – A Comprehensive
Study". Procedia Computer Science, vol 78, 2016, pp. 114-119. Elsevier BV,
doi:10.1016/j.procs.2016.02.019.