Right to data protection

The right to privacy is a human right. Every user has the right to informational self-determination. But many users give up this right, usually involuntarily, when they use a social network. Data is used to make targeted statements about a user for personalized advertising. Some networks even sell this data to third parties to earn money. This breach of trust is causing many people to increasingly withdraw from social networks. The focus is less and less on private interests and the social group as influencers and news. Even the seemingly private chat messages are analyzed and evaluated.

Contrary to this trend, there is a new movement of people who want to control their data again and are specifically looking for alternatives. However, since most networks follow the same business model, it is almost impossible to find real alternatives on the Internet.

Transparency and control

What data is generated, when and why? And what happens to my data? Many users of social networks ask themselves these questions. Users do not have any real control over what happens to their own data. It is possible for platforms to show users exactly what data they store about their users. However, this is deliberately avoided, as it is not intended to show the extent to which the data collection has already taken place.

One concept to give users more transparency is to show exactly what data is stored, with the option to delete the data completely and without residue at any time. However, this concept has not yet caught on with the major social network providers and probably won't in the future.

The Internet does not forget

If data of users of a social network is deleted, they cannot be sure whether this data is really deleted and not still stored by the provider. Years later, a wrong post can be the undoing of something that used to be funny and harmless, but now becomes a problem. The goal must be that in the future, users can decide for themselves what data exists about them, and whether posts and interactions really need to be stored for years by a social network.