Everything you do online forms data that’s tracked, mapped, shared and sold (oh yeah, and oftentimes stolen).
A lot of this data turns up in digital graphs called social graphs and interest graphs, which social media platforms build and use to analyze user behavior, personalize user experience, recommend content, and sell advertising and the data itself.
A social graph maps who you know—all your relationships within a social network such as friends, family, coworkers, etc.
An interest graph maps what you like—all your connections to other people based on shared interests, hobbies and topics.
Social media platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, and YouTube, and short form video and content discovery platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, own and control their users’ data graphs, and monetize them by selling targeted advertising based on user connections and interests, selling the data to third parties (e.g. data brokers) for marketing and other purposes, and aggregating the data for other revenue streams.
Social and interest graphs exist for every platform you’re on and for many of the services you’re using (even banking apps). They’re how Netflix knows what shows to recommend and LinkedIn knows which job vacancies to highlight, but also what garden tool or luxury holiday ads will turn up in your feed and browser, for example.
As you can imagine, these graphs contain masses of personal information about you and therefore reveal an awful lot of personal information about you. And while these graphs have some upsides in terms of tailored content, their downsides for privacy and security are far greater.
Here are 7 privacy and security risks of social and interest graphs:
- Unintentional data exposure – Your connections, interactions, and interests may reveal more than you realize, even if you haven’t explicitly shared certain details. We’ve all heard how Facebook can predict whether you’ll fall in love or break up, and could know you’re pregnant before you’ve even told your partner.
- Third-party access and data mining – Social graphs are pots of gold to advertisers, governments, and cybercriminals. Social network data can be mined to gather sensitive information, including location data, health information, religious identity, sexual orientation, and private messages, which can be used for malicious purposes and surveillance.
- Identity theft and social engineering – Bad actors can exploit social graphs to steal your identity and impersonate you for financial fraud, impersonate your trusted contacts, craft convincing phishing scams, and guess answers to your accounts’ security questions.
- Algorithmic bias and manipulation – Social graphs help curate content, but they can also reinforce echo chambers, control narratives, and manipulate user behavior.
- Data breaches – If a platform storing your social graph data is breached, your relationships, habits and other sensitive information could be exposed. 2024 was the biggest year on record for data breaches, and statistics show most people in the world have now had their personal data stolen.
- Data brokers: Social graph data can be sold to data brokers, who can then use the data for targeted advertising, profiling, and other purposes without user consent.
- Cyberbullying and online harassment: Social network data can be used for cyberbullying and online harassment, such as doxing, which can cause emotional distress and psychological harm.
So, what’s the 1 quick fix for all these privacy and security risks?
Use the Sudo digital identities in MySudo all-in-one privacy app to break your data trail. Use MySudo to control who sees your personal information online and in real life:
- Use the end-to-end encrypted messaging within each Sudo in MySudo to keep your conversations private.
- Use the private browser within each Sudo in MySudo to search the internet free of ads and trackers.
- Use the virtual card within each Sudo in MySudo to hide your transaction history from your bank and those they sell your data to. (Yes, they do!)
But don’t stop there. Take even greater control of your data privacy by using the full suite of Anonyome Labs’ personal information protection tools, including RECLAIM, which lets you reclaim your personal data from companies that store and sell it.
You’ll find other advice for managing the privacy and security risks of social and interest graphs here.
Remember, you can’t control what platforms do with your information, but you can control what information they get in the first place. Download MySudo for iOS or Android.
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