When users have gradually forgotten TikTok’s incident, another famous app - Instagram - has recently faced a similar accusation. Accordingly, many believe that Instagram has violated user data security.
At the beginning of July, hacker group Anonymous advised users across the world to remove TikTok - one of the top-world popular apps - out of their smart devices. They pointed out that TikTok works as spyware to collect user data. Additionally, the famous hacker group added that whenever users run this app, it will gather the information of their current smartphones, downloaded (and uninstalled) apps, other information relating to the network system, and more.
To get more specific, some users who are using the iOS beta version revealed that Instagram has intentionally accessed their devices’ cameras, even when they are just surfing the newsfeed, instead of taking photos or recording a video. That means this app is caught red-handed directly by Apple’s iOS 14 version that shows a green dot on the screen when an app is found to access the camera.
In an email to The Verge, the Instagram spokesperson stated that the above-mentioned behavior was just an error on the app Instagram and it was fixed. The company said that the app just accesses the camera when a user takes a photo or record a video clip, just like when you swipe to Camera from Feed.
They have discovered and fixed an error in the iOS 14 beta version that indicates that the camera is in use while users don’t turn it on. The Instagram spokesperson declared that the company doesn’t access the camera, as well as doesn’t save any photo or video when not being allowed.
In the past, some iOS apps such as Reddit, TikTok, and LinkedIn were also discovered to access users’ clipboard content. It was due to whenever any third-party app accessed the clipboard on the iOS 14 device, a notification popped up to warn the user.
In addition, Faceapp and TikTok were under fire over running in the background, accessing the data on smartphones, and moving important information to the server. It’s not surprising why users across the world have expressed their concern about these apps.
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