Last week Threads released a new Web version allowing users to finally search for content and use other features from any of their desktop devices. According to Similarweb statistics, Threads’ current monthly audience is 13.2 million.
For those who still use Threads, Kaspersky experts have compiled a list of tips on how to do it securely, protect personal data, and avoid scammers.
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What is important to know regarding security settings in Threads:
- Threads offers a Security Checkup. This feature shows key security-related data about Threads, Instagram or Facebook accounts. It reflects current connected email addresses, mobile phone numbers, last time password changed and whether two-factor authentication (2FA) is on or not.
- Don’t forget to set up 2FA. Threads is connected to your Instagram profile and uses the same logging details, so you should remember: one password gives access to two accounts! It’s always more secure to use 2FA as a security layer that protects accounts from unauthorized access. Modern reliable password managers can also generate and store unique one-time passwords for 2FA, that’s why you don’t need to install and use a separate solution for authentication.
- It’s impossible to delete Threads account alone – the connected Instagram profile will be deleted as well since Users can only deactivate their accounts, which means that all your data will be concealed from other users of the social network. So, in practical terms, it’s not much different from deletion.
To do this, users need to go to Settings -> Account -> Deactivate profile and press Deactivate Threads profile.
2. As for privacy, you can limit users who can contact you: mute, restrict or block them. In all these cases, none of your unwanted contacts will be notified of your actions.
- If you don’t want to see someone’s post, you can mute the user. In case you don’t want to receive notifications of someone’s actions such as likes, replies, etc, you can restrict the user. If you block a user, they won’t be able to find your profile or account – the list of blocked users is shared between Threads and Instagram.
To mute, restrict or block someone, go to their profile, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select the action.
3. To strengthen the privacy level in your Threads account, the following tips can be useful:
- You can monitor and set up, who can mention you in posts with ‘@’ symbol.
- Threads is trying to fight against offensive language, so users can filter offensive language in responses to their posts. Platform offers several tools, like automatic filtering with built-in lists or manually adding specific phrases and words.
“The emergence of a new social network has rapidly created a desire to explore something new, share text, images, and videos, while interacting with billions of other people. At the same time, before registering everyone using Threads need to set aside a few minutes to study the new tools this social interaction provides. We recommend you first pay attention to the ability to delete an account (surprisingly, not all social networks make it easy to do this) and the level of account protection (2FA, privacy settings). Familiarize yourself with the Privacy Policy of the social network to understand what happens to all your posts and photos after they are published, and how easy it will be to delete them.
“It is always worth remembering that data leaks, account hacks, marketing collection and analysis of user data, which is not always harmless, are common today. To minimize the risk of becoming a victim of another precedent and not increase your already large-scale digital footprint, you need to study the terms of a new service before signing up for it,” comments Anna Larkina, Web content analyst expert at Kaspersky.
