We all know the basic online safety tips: don’t share personal info online, use a strong password, and don’t fall for fake news. But as technology advances and regulations change, there is a lot about online privacy in today’s world that most people don’t know.
Social media apps are among the most commonly used in the United States. For example, 50% of adults in the US use Instagram, while rates are even higher for platforms like YouTube and Facebook. Because people tend to post a lot of personal information and use these apps to connect with others, they are at risk of many safety and privacy threats.
One of the most important issues right now is that of privacy while messaging. Many use apps like Discord and Instagram to message their friends, but both of these apps lack end-to-end encryption, or E2EE, meaning that the respective companies can access the messages.
Instagram has had an optional feature allowing encrypted chats, but due to low usage, this is being discontinued on May 8, 2026.
Following this change, the obvious app to move to may appear to be WhatsApp, which still uses E2EE by default. But WhatsApp may not be perfectly safe either. It is owned by Meta, the same parent company as Instagram, and is not open source, meaning its code is not available for the public to look through.
Meta is notorious for privacy violations, and is currently facing a lawsuit over its smart glasses recording private situations. There is no way to be sure that message content or metadata is completely hidden.
In terms of messaging, the safest choices are now lesser-known, open source, encrypted messaging apps such as Signal. Their code is publicly viewable, and no one, including the company itself, can access data.
However, since the focus is on privacy, these apps often have limited features and have a hard time gaining users, leading many to stay on popular apps for convenience.
Social media and messaging apps are not the only way your privacy can be compromised. Regular web browsing and downloading all kinds of apps can also be a threat due to the cookies accepted and permissions granted.
The first step to staying safe from this type of data collection is understanding what you are agreeing to. It may be tempting to skip through the terms and conditions of an app or site, but serious privacy risks can be hidden in plain sight.
Another way to mitigate this problem, at least while web browsing, is to consider using a safer browser. Google Chrome is a popular choice that serves as the default browser on many devices, but it is also one of the least private mainstream browsers. Chrome collects a lot of data for the purpose of targeted advertising.
Firefox is one browser that can serve as a safer alternative to Chrome. Although it may not be perfect, it collects significantly less data.
Overall, the key takeaway is that large tech companies have many insidious ways to collect data, which poses a threat to everyone’s privacy as they use social media and the web. However, there are small steps you can take to be more informed and protect your privacy.
How do you stay safe online? Let us know @HerCampusSJSU!