Shocking! Your Instagram online activity can be tracked, even credit card numbers, passwords | Tech News

Shocking! Your Instagram online activity can be tracked, even credit card numbers, passwords

Instagram can track your online activity, including text choices and even text input, such as passwords, confidential credit card information, and more. Read all details here.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Aug 13 2022, 14:12 IST
7 Instagram features that you must try- from knowing who is Online to sending silent messages
Instagram
1/7 Know who is online on Instagram: Once you open the app, at the top of your inbox, you can see who is free to chat at that moment, helping you find serendipitous opportunities to connect with friends. (Pixabay)
Instagram
2/7 Send silent messages: Send messages without notifying friends late at night or when they’re busy by adding “@silent” in your message. Now you can reach out without worrying about sending unwanted notifications. (REUTERS)
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3/7 Reply while you browse: Receive a new message while you are browsing your feed? You can now reply without going to your inbox and losing your place. This new feature makes it that much easier and more convenient to chat while on the app. (Pixabay)
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4/7 Quickly send to friends: You can reshare interesting content without interrupting your Instagram experience. By tapping and holding the share button, you can effortlessly reshare posts to your closest friends. (AP)
Instagram
5/7 Keep it on the lo-fi: Feeling chill? Try the new lo-fi chat theme to make your conversations feel more personal. (Reuters)
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6/7 Create a poll with your squad: Deciding where to go to dinner or what time to meet up? Instagram is bringing one of Messenger’s most beloved group chat features on the app so you can create a poll directly in your group chat. (Unsplash)
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7/7 Play, pause, and re-play: Enabled by integrations with Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify coming soon, you can now share a 30-second preview of that song you just can’t get out of your head, and your friends can listen directly from your chat. (Pixabay)
Instagram
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Instagram is capable of tracking its users' data? Know what this report said. (Pixabay)

Can Instagram really track your online activity? This latest report says so! According to an analysis conducted by Felix Krause on the iOS platform, Instagram can track the web activity of the users through an in-app browser. The report says that it can track users' text choices and text input, credit card information, as well as passwords and other confidential details. This is possible if users click on the link inside the app.

The latest report claims that Instagram, as well as Facebook, use their own in-app browser. Most of the apps on Apple iPhones use the default Safari browser. However, these social media platforms use their own in-app browsers to open websites or links within the app, MacRumors reported.

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“This allows Instagram to monitor everything happening on external websites without the consent from the user, nor the website provider. The Instagram app injects its tracking code into every website shown, including when clicking on ads, enabling them to monitor all user interactions, like every button & link tapped, text selections, screenshots, as well as any form inputs, like passwords, addresses, and credit card numbers,” Krause mentioned in his report.

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This is how Instagram tracks online activity of the users

Krause pointed out that the in-built browser of both the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook is based on WebKit. Report says that these social media platforms inject a tracking JavaScript code-named "Meta Pixel" into all links on the app. In return, this in-app browser allows Instagram to track almost everything that a user browses on an external website without their knowledge.

However, Meta on its developer portal mentioned that, “the Meta Pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that allows you to track visitor activity on your website. It works by loading a small library of functions which you can use whenever a site visitor takes an action (called an event) that you want to track (called a conversion).”

Notably, it indicates there is no confirmation that Meta-owned social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have gathered the user data or not.

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First Published Date: 13 Aug, 14:12 IST
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