The ‘Threads’ App Is Filled with Deceptive Dark Design Patterns
yankodesign.com
yankodesign.com
1-5: True but not dark patterns. Yes they are using the IG user base to bootstrap the threads user base. So what? Was it a dark pattern when google came out with docs and everybody already had an account?
6: Come on, threads asks for permission to send notifications just like every other app, and sends them at a very normal frequency for a social app, in fact if anything a bit less than IG, twitter, etc. Just say no when it asks for permission. Not a dark pattern.
7: Also not a dark pattern. Yes I'm sure the app reported that I liked a picture of a prothonotary warbler to the facebook ad targeting mainframe. Senator, we run ads.
8: As far as I can tell completely wrong. Threads doesn't have access to my location, health data, or financial data?!
9: Right, you can't use threads unless you have threads. Your FOMO is not a dark pattern.
10: False, there is a read-only website. It is very limited but it supports permalinks to threads, and from there you can navigate to user profiles, other threads, etc.
11: Not even wrong, just speculation.
I keep hearing this, but I've literally never seen it. threads.net just gives me a "download the app" landing page with a QR code.
https://www.threads.net/t/Cu2Ps0mJ4Hv/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA...
Although even for a "read-only" site, there's not much there. You can go to the profile, but that's about it. Unless that's really all threads is, this just looks like a way of getting people to download the app.
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Health & Fitness
Purchases
Financial Info
Location
Contact Info
Contacts
User Content
Search History
Browsing History
Identifiers
Usage Data
Sensitive Info
Diagnostics
Other Data
The App Store disclosure you're referencing means these data can be aggregated and associated with your identity, but that's just the nature of using any social media app that serves ads these days.
How can you be certain?
If threads has figured out a way to collect those things without having permissions, then yes, that would be the darkest of dark patterns.
Your location data for example tells them where you live. Possibly the single best predictor of how long you'll live is your zip code. Your health could be readily apparent from your location and your physical appearance (insta knows what you look like before filters too).
It can give them a huge amount of data concerning your finances as well. The location and info gathered from photos you take of your food and drinks in expensive restaurants or on vacation for example. The person who spends 40 hours a week in a server room is probably making more money than someone who spends 35 hours a week at a McDonalds.
Your location data can be used to show things like how many sexual partners you have, how many friends you have, if you have parents that are still alive, how often you visit the dentist.
If IOS is like Android there will be a lot of sensor data that is freely handed out to any app that is curious without a permission or a prompt. Thinks like if your phone is upright or flat. The magnetic fields around you. etc. All of that data can also be leveraged to learn the most intimate details of you and your life.
When you start thinking about how much you reveal about yourself from nothing but a bunch of seemingly random data points it can really surprise you.
https://www.wired.com/2007/12/why-anonymous-data-sometimes-i...
(looks like wired has a paywall on okd articles: https://web.archive.org/web/20170921231448/https://www.wired...)
Take note of the date on that article. This was before we really knew much abouy big data in the mainstream, but look how little data it takes to fingerprint an individual.
I remember this as the moment i knew how much trouble we were headed for.
I looked at the playstore and the information there is the same. I looked at Reddit's app and it doesn't say anything about financial info or health data like this one does. Also it looks like the play store doesn't let you see what permissions an app needs anymore.
...also not a dark pattern...
If i login to all services using my 'meta' oauth, it'd make sense that i lose everything that was under that master account. The inverse should never be true, a linked account should be severable if it is the child.
This is absolutely a dark pattern in that context.
Also, that permission list is insanely long. Why tf does a social media app need access to my health data?
They're intrinsically linked and therefore inherently the same account.