So I got the message from instagram about either paying or using it free (at the cost personalised ads) just now.
Doesn't this go against the GDPR? Either way, is there a FOSS alternative for instagram like piped is to youtube? It seems like a good opportunity to stop using the official app, even though it would be better to not use instagram at all (sadly not an option for me right now).
Any suggestions, and if so, are there any that provide functionality for: stories, posts, dms? Those are the 3 things I use instagram for.
Many thanks!
Edit: For messaging I do use beeper, though some media like carousels and posts sent to my dms cant be shown in there, so for those cases I open the official app.
Edit 2: many people have suggested pixelfed. Ive heard of it, and want to use it, but unfortunately the only reason Im still sticking with instagram is because I have very dear friends who would never change to anything non-mainstream. Theyre important enough that im willing to not delete it just yet, but I dont want to agree to either pay or pay with my data.
What im looking for is more like a piped for youtube, thing. So a frintend that has instagram content/features, but isnt the main app and avoids the problems I listed above
Edit 3: I ended up installing the site as a PWA on my phone as thats the only device I use it on, and uninstalled the official app. Thanks to everyone for all your input!
The venture capital dollars started running out. Returns started being demanded. Companies that made slightly improved and/or more accessible versions of more open products extinguished those products using venture capital dollars then started rolling out the enshittification, demands for money, intrusive ads, spying, dark patterns, sabotaging, paid tiers.
Back in those days the internet was a curiosity. A hobby. A fun thing to share, something a company might hope to break even on or earn minor profits with, these days big profits are demanded, centralization. Addiction to high resolution and size video and image content which is expensive to host and serve. The network effect drained smaller sites and resources, concentrating people in larger venues that had the investment dollars to support them at the cost of their privacy. Combine with search engine optimization and it became harder to even find smaller places. Add in digitally uneducated kids who thought fb and such were most of the internet and never bother to venture beneath the top 6 google results and older people and this is what you have.
Take something like Omegle. I don't want to defend what it was for most of its existence as the bad outweighed the good IMO (like 4chan) but something like that if made today would require linking your facebook or google account and serve you video ads every 5 minutes on top of banner ads. But back then it was just something some random guy could make for fun and not think "hmm I need real identities to monetize these people to ad networks to pay for this and turn a big profit selling the data they input".
Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.
It's on purpose. They know most people won't pay, so now it's carte blanche to their data. And if somebody's desperate enough, they'll pay 13⏠and meta will make more money on the user than with ads.
They will collect and sell your data either way. They just won't force ads down your throat if you pay them. This is what billionaires have done to our beloved internet.
The call to action button is the free plan, with subscribe having a secondary button style. That alone makes it clear they want to show you ads more than they want you to subscribe.
Per account! I have 2 on Instagram an done on FB. They offered an intro price for âŹ10 that would go up to âŹ19 on may 1st. I believe it is because one of my accounts is linked across IG and FB so they count as one.. 𤡠lucky me! At this moment I have uninstalled and waiting to see how EU reacts to the "choice options". Its more like a forced option really
âŹ12.99/mo. sounds wildly overpriced to me in comparison to 1) cost to serve and 2) ad revenue. Iâm not an ad revenue expert, but I have a hard time believing they make anywhere near âŹ13/user/mo. from advertisers.
The wording and the dark pattern on this screen should be violating the rules already. They very clearly want people to stay on the free plan, and likely aren't even going to stop tracking users?
Maybe they just want to show how it "failed" and make a case that people don't care
Is pixelfed an entirely different platform? Sadly i have many good friends on insta who i talk with, and they wouldnt ever switch to anything else, so because of that im stuck with meta. Otherwise i would 100% leave it
It is Instagram but federated in a nutshell. Just like Lemmy is similar to Reddit but federated. Whoah, wait I saw your profile and you do not know about Pixelfed?
Ive heard of it, and want to use it, but unfortunately the only reason Im still sticking with instagram is because I have very dear friends who would never change to anything non-mainstream.
This is called the network effect, it's a social problem and no amount of technology will solve this. So your choices are either to stop using apps where you are the product, and obviously convince your friends to stop that as well, or grin and bear it. Maybe think about what you did 20 years ago and do that instead.
The fact that the ad revenue button is more emphasized and easier to press (closer to screen edge) says a lot about the value of you being their product vs. you simply paying them for access.
Anecdotally, the last time I checked my dormant Facebook feed it was deserted. I wonder how many people hit that message and just decide they can just nope out and not lose much of value.
I mean, that's what I did the first time it popped up. I only ever logged into that in case somebody was trying to reach me for work stuff, and that never actually happens, so...
As for whether this is GDPR compliant, it seems that FB was convinced it would get them past the newer post-GDPR regulations and the EU has strongly signalled that it really won't, so it's gonna be fun to watch from the sidelines.
Thanks for the GDPR info (grabs popcorn to watch as well).
As for facebook, I only use it because of messenger for work, which I will delete as soon as im done with my BSc in about a year (I work at my uni). I dont have the app but rather a PWA on my phone, not that theres much difference.
However, Im interested in instagram because of good friends that use it
I think they probably learned this number from the iOS tracking opt in. It's not as large as people like to think. People don't like being tracked, but they'll trade it for free stuff pretty easily.
I setup my own pixelfed instance to share pictures of my kids and family. I own and control all the data on my server and no one gets to monetize pictures of my children.
Not many of my family members are on there but I still prefer it to Instagram
I heard in a podcast that this is primarily to address the requirement to not target ads for under 18 and will be free to them. They probably have to offer it as a paid service for anyone 18+ and priced it so that no one actually does.
I'll just stop using it if they tell me this. You can sign up for pixelfed. It's a part of the fediverse, too. You can transfer all of your Instagram photos to it very easily. They even have instructions on how to do it. I moved all of my 650 photos in about 20 minutes. Just in case.
I dont have many photos, but thats not the issue. Its that all my friends are on it, and until I leave after my bachelors and need to have contact with them often im stuck with it. After i leave to a different country once i get my degree itll be easier, but for the next year or so im stuck with instagram because i dknt want to lose contact with them. As most people, they would never leave the mainstream thing behind, so no chance of converting them as well
Ok then, run it in a browser, instead of the actual app, to give them less of your data. I have it installed on my phone as a webapp on Firefox with ublock origin and TrackerControl app
I'm certain it is. I sent an objection/data deletion request, and their "privacy info" pages are absolutely in violation of GDPR, because their forms are NOT reasonably accessible. I needed to use 3 separate mobile browsers and my desktop. When you finally get to the form, they ask some basic info, and the box where you're supposed to make a request ends by asking something like "what rights do you believe are being violated, and why?". The fucking gall on these cunts.
I planned on dropping some links, but they all have hard-coded non-functional redirects, which is intentional and absolutely infuriating. The redirects either just break like this one, which is suppose to be the one that contains a link to the form:
Anyway, I'm mad if that's not obvious. If you happen to find the form, you can try opting out. I haven't heard back yet. Here's the thorough and crystal fucking clear message I wrote, feel free to copy/share it:
The rights granted to me as a resident of an EEA country and a citizen of an EU member state, which are outlined in the GDPR, would be violated if Meta is non-compliant to my requests and objections. I've noted the exact sections within the GDPR outlining my rights, just before each pertaining request/objection, to explain why I believe my rights and freedoms are impacted by the data processing (although, I should not need to explain why).
I am exercising my right to object outlined in GDPR Article 21 Sections 1, 2, and 6:
I object to the processing and collection of my personal data for direct marketing, and request that no further collection or processing of my personal data is carried out.
I am also exercising my right to erasure outlined in GDPR Article 17 Section 1 (b) and (c):
I request that all of my collected and/or processed personal data be erased.
I am also exercising my right of access outlined in GDPR Article 15 Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, and Section 4:
I request a full copy of my processed personal data, as well as any relevant details listed in each subsection of GDPR Article 15 Section 1.
If any of my personal data is stored under an email address other than the ones currently or previously associated with my account, then I will need the preceding requests and objections to be carried out for the personal data generated under each of the following: [all email addresses I've used anywhere in the past 20 years].
Before I suggest this, I'm not 100% how private and secure this is, but AeroInsta doesn't show any ads and promises not to send cookies and any of your data across.
Have you tried the options?I proceeded to checkout where it told me the price would stay that u til maj, where it would double because I have two accounts (Facebook and 2 xInstagram)
You can still use Instagram on your browser, without being shown the banner. Works for me with Firefox on Android.
If you do decide to opt for the subscription (I hope you don't) do it from your desktop browser since it costs 10⏠instead of 12.99âŹ. I haven't tried it myself, but that's what I read on a German website.
I still need to use the app to stay in touch with some friends and to get updates from smaller organizations that do not have a Web presence or newsletter.
I uninstalled Instagram when I was shown the banner. Not out of principle but I simply don't know which action would send the right signal. By continuing to use the app for free I would be sending the signal that I do not care about my privacy.
So do I pay for the subscription? I read somewhere elsewhere Meta makes more than that off me using targeted ads. So by subscribing do i still get to use the service and they make less money off me? There's no guarantee they honor the no tracking even if I pay.
Thanks for this reply. Ive installed the site as a PWA and uninstalled the official app. Theres no way I'm either paying or giving them consent for personalised ads.
Its sad that most people are numb to it, and actually completely unaware/uncaring. They just click that they want to continue using it for free, which is exactly what mera wants
What is your issue exactly here? The fact that this could go against the GDPR? If that's the case, I don't see how a third party client would help. IG would still collect info about you and show you ads. Also, you would probably get the same popup asking if you want to subscribe. Nothing would change (except that with a third party client IG would not be able to collect as much info about you as with the official app)
Anyways, you still have the option to not pay and keep using IG as before. Nothing changes.
The only thing a third party app can do is keep phone based activity private. If you have to ping a server to do something, that point becomes their data.
What are you doing using instagram if you care about privacy? If you're there for friends, then privacy probably isn't that important enough to you to quit insta. What do you do on insta anyway? Aren't your friends on WhatsApp too? What's the point of Insta?
Remember that time WhatsApp (just after Facebook acquisition) introduced an annual fee you had to pay for using it, and then after everyone payed they removed it?
Its like "installing" a website to your phone kinda. Usually if you open the menu on your mobile browser, if the site supports it there will be an option to install the site to your phone as a web app.
"Your info won't be used for ads". Does that also mean that they won't collect any info about you? Theoretically, they don't have any reason to collect data anymore because you pay them.