When considering companies whose customers have the utmost trust in them, you certainly won't find tech giants near the top of any list. We understand that our data is a commodity to most of them, and while there are new privacy and security features being unveiled every year, it's hard to say whether they plug all the gaps.
Among tech giants that are considered to be unscrupulous, I'd argue that Meta, formerly Facebook, is considered to be the most unscrupulous of them all. The company has had several ethical and privacy scandals, and it seems another is about to unfold. It's been discovered that Meta has been spying on the browser activity of its Android users.
Researchers Discover Meta Apps Secretly Tracking the Activity of Android Users
Depending on who you ask, some people are really concerned about the security of their data online, while others couldn't care less. However, regardless of who you are, you'll likely agree that data privacy online is a major concern these days, as tech giants look for ways to farm your data and make money off of it. Microsoft, Google, Meta—when it comes to your personal data, I don't think any of those companies operate entirely ethically.
But of the bunch, one name probably has more public negativity directed towards it than the others, and that's Meta. The company has frequently come under fire for data security and privacy issues, and today will throw another match into the flame. Researchers at Radboud University in the Netherlands and IMDEA Networks discovered that Meta has been spying on you.
The allegations covered not only Meta but also Russian search engine Yandex, though it denied the claims.
One researcher stated that the tracking was discovered in January and revealed that apps like Facebook and Instagram, while in the background, would execute scripts that bypassed Android's security measures to track browser activity and send that data back to a Meta app. And if you think you're safe just because you use incognito mode, that's not the case. These scripts can track your data even when in a private browsing mode.
Google Confirms the Security Issue and Meta Says It Is Investigating
Google is the tech company behind the Android OS, and based on a response given to Sky News, the company has confirmed that the issue is indeed legitimate. That's a big problem, and all Meta has said in response to that is that it is looking into a “potential miscommunication” regarding Google's policies. That's a pretty wild excuse for an issue this big.
It's Not That Much of a Surprise That Meta Is Spying on Us
To be entirely honest, I'm not quite surprised to hear this, and you shouldn't be either. The other day, while on a call, a friend of mine asked me about perfumes and where he could buy them. I recommended a place, and in the process, decided to take a look at the outlet's website. All of this happened on Chrome, owned by Google.
The next time I used Instagram, I was inundated with ads, not only from that one fragrance outlet but also from all sorts of other fragrance vendors. It has always been obvious that Meta spies on us, and I'm just glad it is being brought to the fore in such a manner.
