Threads Privacy Check-Up: How to Secure Your Account and Data on Instagram‘s New Social App

As a cybersecurity professional with over a decade of experience in data privacy, I‘ve witnessed firsthand how social media has become an increasingly serious threat to our digital security. With each new viral app, millions of users rush to sign up and start sharing without fully understanding the risks and tradeoffs involved.

Instagram‘s new Threads app is the latest example of this trend. Launched in July 2023 as a text-based companion to Instagram, Threads gained over 100 million users in its first week alone. But while there‘s certainly appeal to Threads‘ short-form, conversational format, the app also raises major privacy concerns that all users need to be aware of before diving in.

Threads‘ Surprising Data Collection Practices

Upon inspecting the App Store privacy label for Threads, I was alarmed to discover just how much personal data the app can access and link to your identity. This includes:

• Health & Fitness Information
• Financial Information
• Contacts
• Browsing History
• Search History
• Sensitive Info
• Purchases
• Precise Location

Essentially, Threads and Instagram can compile a massive dossier on each user, spanning everything from what products you buy to where you physically go each day. Most people would be shocked to realize how extensively their privacy is invaded when using apps like these.

Now, Meta (parent company of Instagram/Threads and formerly Facebook) claims this data collection is necessary to power core app features and personalize your experience. And to their credit, Threads does offer fairly granular privacy controls that let you limit how your data is used…if you take the time to adjust them.

But given Meta‘s poor track record on data privacy, including the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal, I‘m quite wary of trusting them with so much of my personal information regardless of their privacy policies. In my professional opinion, there are simply too many risks in over-sharing on social media, even with strict privacy settings enabled.

Taking Control of Your Threads Privacy Settings

While you can‘t opt out of all data collection on Threads short of deleting the app, you can dramatically reduce your digital footprint by taking advantage of its various privacy options. Here‘s a step-by-step guide to locking down your Threads account:

1. Switch to a Private Account

By default, all Threads accounts are public (except for users under 16). This means anyone, even people without a Threads account, can see your full profile and all your posts. Especially if you plan to share personal updates, I highly recommend switching to a private account so only approved followers can see your content. Here‘s how:

1. From the Threads homepage, tap your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile
2. Tap the three lines "menu" icon at the top right of your profile page
3. Select "Privacy" from the popup menu
4. Toggle on the "Private Account" option
5. Tap "Switch to Private" on the confirmation window

Once you go private, you‘ll have to manually approve any new follower requests before they can see your posts. This gives you full control over your audience.

The main downside of a private account is reduced visibility and growth. If you‘re using Threads for business purposes or to build a large audience, then a private account may be impractical. In that case, I still recommend reviewing your other privacy settings and monitoring your follower list regularly for suspicious accounts.

2. Remove Unwanted Followers

Whether you have a public or private account, it‘s a good habit to periodically prune your follower list to avoid sharing with people you don‘t know or trust. Removing a follower prevents them from seeing any of your future posts, but does not send them any notification. Here‘s how to do it:

1. From your profile page, tap "Followers" to view your full list
2. Find the follower you want to remove and tap the three dots icon on the right
3. Select "Remove Follower" from the menu
4. Tap "Remove" again to confirm

For more serious harassment cases, you can block a user entirely. From any of their posts, tap the three dots icon and select "Block User." This will prevent them from finding your profile or interacting with your content at all, even if you switch back to a public account later. Note that blocking a user on Threads will also block them on Instagram.

3. Restrict Post Reply Settings

Not every conversation needs to be open to the entire world. Threads lets you choose who can reply to each individual post. I recommend limiting replies to only people you follow or mention for most posts, unless you intentionally want to start a broader discussion. Here‘s how:

1. After composing a new Thread, tap the "Anyone Can Reply" setting in the bottom right before posting
2. Select who you want to allow replies from: "Anyone" (default), "People You Follow" or "Mentioned People Only"
3. Tap "Post" to share with the reply setting applied

You can also turn off like, reply, mention and repost notifications entirely for each post from the "Notifications" section of settings. This is useful if a certain Thread gets more reactions than you can keep up with.

4. Add Custom Content Filters

In addition to its built-in offensive content filter, Threads lets you create custom lists of keywords and emojis to hide from your main feed and replies. This is a great way to avoid spoilers for shows/movies, mute certain topics you‘re not interested in, or block harassing language. To set up your custom filters:

1. Go to your profile, tap the menu icon, and select "Privacy"
2. Tap the "Hidden Words" option
3. Toggle on the "Custom Words and Phrases" setting
4. Tap "Manage Custom Words and Phrases"
5. Enter any keywords you want hidden, separated by commas
6. Tap "Done" to save your custom filter

Threads will then automatically hide any posts and replies containing your filtered terms. You can edit your custom list at any time to add or remove filters as needed.

Additional Privacy Tips for Social Media

Adjusting your in-app privacy settings is an important first line of defense, but truly securing your online data requires good digital hygiene habits. Here are some general best practices I recommend for using any social media platform:

• Always set a strong, unique password and enable two-factor authentication on your account. Consider using a password manager like Dashlane to generate and securely store complex passwords.

• Be very selective about what personal information you include in your profile and posts. Avoid sharing your full name, home address, phone number, birthday, or other details criminals could use for identity theft or harassment.

• Regularly audit your posts and profile to remove any sensitive info you may have shared in the past. Use the "Limit Past Posts" tool on Threads to retroactively make all previous posts private.

• Don‘t accept friend/follow requests from people you don‘t know in real life. Bots and fake accounts are commonly used to spy on targets and collect data.

• Review your linked third-party apps and revoke access for any you no longer use. Threads can share data with other apps you‘ve authorized.

• Download and review your Threads data report to see exactly what info Meta has collected on you. Go to Settings > Privacy > Download Data to request your report.

• Consider investing in a VPN (virtual private network) to hide your IP address and encrypt your internet connection while using social media on public WiFi networks. I recommend ExpressVPN or ProtonVPN as secure and user-friendly options.

• Use a data removal service like DeleteMe to automatically scan for and remove your personal info from data broker sites that harvest social media profiles. Removing your data from these aggregator sites makes it much harder for strangers online to stalk or dox you.

Expert Analysis: Is Using Threads Worth the Privacy Risks?

As a cybersecurity analyst, it‘s my job to weigh the potential benefits of new technologies against the threats they pose to data privacy and safety. And in the case of Threads, I have to conclude that the app‘s massive collection of sensitive personal info is not justified by its relatively mundane feature set.

At its core, Threads is yet another social media feed for sharing text posts, links, and personal updates with friends and/or the public. While I can appreciate the appeal of a streamlined, chat-like interface, none of its functions are compelling enough for me to trust Meta with my digital life story, even with strict privacy controls in place.

We have to remember that social media companies‘ incentives will always be misaligned with our personal privacy. Platforms like Threads generate revenue by offering advertisers hyper-targeted access to our attention and data. The more they can learn about our relationships, interests, behaviors and vulnerabilities, the more effectively they can sell us to the highest bidders.

This business model has already wreaked havoc on both individual and societal scales. The mass data harvesting practices of companies like Meta have enabled everything from creepy ads that follow you around the web, to large-scale disinformation campaigns, to foreign election interference. Threads may be the hot new app of the moment, but it ultimately exists to provide more fodder for Meta‘s surveillance capitalist machine.

Now, I‘m not anti-social media by any means. These platforms can offer great value when used intentionally to connect with others, express yourself, learn new things, and build communities around shared interests. The key is defining your own boundaries about what to share and sticking to them.

Before you post that next life update or photo on Threads, take a moment to consider what someone with bad intentions could do with that information. Would you feel safe if your post was screenshotted and spread elsewhere online without your consent? Is that really a datapoint you want informing Meta‘s algorithms forever?

If your honest answer is no, then the best way to protect your privacy is simply not to post it in the first place, regardless of your privacy settings. No app privacy feature is foolproof, and even disappearing messages can be preserved. Truly sensitive info is best kept offline or shared only through secure, encrypted channels designed for privacy like Signal.

That said, I recognize the tremendous value that social connection and expression hold in our lives. If you do choose to use Threads or any other social media app, commit to being a privacy-conscious user. Follow the tips outlined above to lock down your settings, limit your sharing to only what‘s necessary, and practice good digital security hygiene. Small steps like using strong passwords and reviewing your data can make a big difference.

It‘s also important to keep up with the constantly evolving legal and ethical discussions around social media data practices. While the US lacks comprehensive digital privacy laws, other countries are starting to take action to rein in Big Tech‘s abuses. The EU‘s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, which started taking effect in November 2022, impose strict new regulations on "gatekeeper" platforms like Meta to prevent anticompetitive practices and increase transparency.

Notably, the Digital Markets Act requires large messaging services to make their apps interoperable, meaning Threads may eventually have to allow users to communicate with their contacts on other platforms. This would mark a radical shift away from the current siloed model and towards a more open, decentralized social media ecosystem.

It remains to be seen how Threads and other Meta products will adapt to this new regulatory environment, both in the EU and around the world as similar laws are proposed. But one thing I‘m certain of is that privacy will only become more important as our lives move increasingly online. Protecting our personal data isn‘t just about avoiding creepy ads anymore—it‘s an issue of preserving our human dignity and autonomy.

So before you dive headfirst into the new world of Threads, take a step back and consider what you‘re really getting in exchange for your data. A little bit of caution and intentionality go a long way in the Wild West of social media. Stay safe out there!