Threads’ remarkable signup numbers broke records, but what happens if you want to remove your account from the platform? US privacy and cybersecurity partner Doron Goldstein weighs in.
Doron recently spoke with Corporate Counsel on Meta’s new social media platform, Threads. The platform requires an Instagram account in order to sign up, making it easy for existing Instagram users to create a Threads account. In addition to falling under Meta’s privacy policies, a supplemental policy of the Threads platform requires a unique process for users to achieve account deletion. If they decide to leave the platform, users must do so through Instagram by deleting the Instagram account they linked to Threads when signing up. The policy has many experts scratching their heads, as it forces users to opt out of two services instead of one and calls into question the legitimacy of the policy with regard to current privacy laws and antitrust issues. Doron indicated to Corporate Counsel that “there are legal rights that [companies] have to grant to users, how they grant those rights is up to them.” Though users have the right to delete their data, the policy forces them to do so at their own discretion: “in other words, if I want to delete my data, I have the right to delete my data. It may involve deleting more than I wanted to, but I have the right to delete personal data if that’s what I choose to do. … So that structure complies with what the law says” Doron said. Though the policy allows the user to retain that right, it will ultimately be up to regulators to decide if the policy is injurious to users who wish to remove their data from one app and not another: “it’s not dissimilar to what happened with OpenAI and ChatGPT in terms of incredibly rapid adoption, and realizing afterwards that some of the things that were done may have caused complications” Doron noted.
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For further information, please contact:
Doron S. Goldstein, Partner, Withersworldwide
doron.goldstein@withersworldwide.com
