How much personal data is collected by popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, Tinder and Spotify?

If you're on the internet, then you're in a big market of data brokers allowing them to sell your personal information and data. That's the hard and harsh truth. Well, in this article we're going to know how much of the data is being collected by popular apps and websites across the globe. We will not be talking about the measures that you can take to prevent your data from being sold by these brokers. Planning to write another article about that. More articles, more readers, more money. Oh yeah. Hahaha. Let's go deeper.

How much data apps are collecting?

The Loot for Data

The source for the following data used to create this article is Clario.

Facebook, Instagram, and two dating apps take the top slots in this mind-blowing study created by Clario. It shows the kind of information collected by the most popular apps and services on the web, and it’s ranked from the most data-hungry to the least. Here are the top 10 apps that know the most about you:

1. Facebook: 70% of personal data collected
2. Instagram: 58.82% of personal data collected
3. Tinder: 55.88% of personal data collected
4. Grindr: 52.94% of personal data collected
5. Uber: 52.94% of personal data collected
6. Strava: 41.18% of personal data collected
7. Tesco: 38.24% of personal data collected
8. Spotify: 35.29% of personal data collected
9. MyFitnessPal: 35.29% of personal data collected
10. Jet2: 35.29% of personal data collected

Here are a few key highlights from the study that you need to know:

• Facebook is still the biggest data-grabber of all, with the company harvesting 70% of the personal data it’s allowed to collect.
• In close second comes Instagram — another Facebook-owned service. Maybe it would be better to think of Facebook and Instagram as one entry.
• Two dating sites are next on the list: Tinder and Grindr. Both of these apps collect astonishing amounts of information — including names, email addresses, contact information, and even employment and pet ownership status.
• Last in the top 5 comes Uber, surprisingly. It collects the same amount of data as Grinder — a whopping 52.94%.
• In a shocking twist, retail apps collected less information about users than most social networks and dating sites. Amazon doesn’t even crack the top 10.

The End Notes

That’s a staggering amount of data to figure out. And to make matters worse, most of these programs won’t even let you use them unless you agree to share your data.

Is privacy dead? Well, not exactly. We'll know more about that in the next article. Cheers. Have a good one.