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Meta's Platforms Rank Worst in Social Media Privacy Rankings: Report

Meta’s Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook have once again been flagged as the most privacy-violating social media apps. According to Incogni’s Social Media Privacy Ranking report 2025, Meta and TikTok are at the bottom of the list. Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has also received poor rankings in various categories, but has done better than Meta in a few categories.

Discord, Pinterest, and Quora perform well

The report analyzed 15 of the most widely used social media platforms globally, measuring them against 14 privacy criteria organized into six different categories: AI data use, user control, ease of access, regulatory transgressions, transparency, and data collection. The research methodology focused on how an average user could understand and control privacy policies.

Discord, Pinterest, and Quora have done best in the 2025 ranking. Discord is placed first, thanks to its stance on not giving user data for training of AI models. Pinterest ranks second, thanks to its strong user options and fewer regulatory penalties. Quora came third thanks to its limited user data collection.

Why were Meta platforms penalized?

But the Meta platforms were penalized strongly in various categories. Facebook was penalized for frequent regulatory fines, such as GDPR rules in Europe, and penalties in the US and other regions. Instagram and WhatsApp received heavy penalties due to policies allowing the collection of sensitive personal data, such as sexual orientation and health. X faced penalties for vast data collection

Penalties against X

X was penalized for vast data collection and privacy fines from the past, but it still ranked above Meta and TikTok in some categories. X was among the easiest platforms to delete accounts from, and also provided information to government organizations at was lower rate than other platforms. Yet, X allows user data to be trained for AI models, which has impacted its overall privacy score.

“One of the core principles motivating Incogni’s research here is the idea that consent to have personal information gathered and processed has to be properly informed to be valid and meaningful. It’s research like this that arms users with not only the facts but also the tools to inform their choices,” Incogni said in its blog. 

60 Million Users Exposed: The Pinterest Data Breach Explained

60 Million Users Exposed: The Pinterest Data Breach Explained

Pinterest, the popular image-sharing platform with over 518 million monthly active users, faces a potential data leak that could affect millions of users. A hacker known as “Tchao1337” has allegedly leaked a database containing 60 million rows of Pinterest user data on a popular data leak forum.

The breach details

The leaked database, which reportedly contains 6 million records, has been compressed to a file size of 1.59 gigabytes. While the full extent of the exposed information is unknown, the leaked data includes email addresses, usernames, user IDs, and IP addresses.

The first and most obvious action is changing your Pinterest password and the related email address. Knowing even a few of your details can allow hackers to piece together information and cause you major difficulties. 

Of course, you know not to use the same password for many things, right? If you are guilty of that cardinal sin, change your password everywhere and use one of the best password organizers to create a safe password that you will not forget. Use two-factor authentication to provide maximum security. 

Stay cautious: Phishing

If your data has been hacked, you are likely to become the victim of other phishing efforts. Be cautious when clicking dodgy links, and not simply in messages on your Pinterest account. 

When using your email account, use caution; any communication that does not appear to come from a known source may be a hoax. Attachments should be treated with caution since they could contain malware. 

One of the best VPNs might help you protect yourself from phishing frauds. Nord and Surfshark offer built-in anti-virus with their memberships, while Nord's Threat Protection Pro product is a proven anti-phishing champion. 

Currently, Pinterest has not issued an official statement regarding the reported hack. The Cyber Press team has contacted Pinterest to warn them of the data leak and is awaiting their response.

If proven, this data leak might have serious ramifications for Pinterest. The company may incur significant operating costs in investigating the hack and alerting affected users.

As the issue evolves, users should actively check their accounts and look for any formal statements from Pinterest regarding the potential data loss.

Be careful while sharing your data

The greatest method to avoid becoming a victim of a data breach is to use extreme caution while disclosing your personal information. Give websites only what they need; having a VPN enabled prevents many trackers and encrypts your data on both ends, preventing hackers from making sense of it. VPN services frequently have zero-logs policies, which means hackers have nothing to work with. 

Pinterest soon to join the Online Classes Plethora

 

With 400 Million monthly active users (a 30% increase from last year), Pinterest is gaining foot among millennials and Gen Z. And their secret of success is their creative interface and their constant new features that attract Gen Z to the platform for future growth, learning, and inspiration. And thus, the photo-sharing social app is aired to be testing online events where users can sign up for Zoom classes by creators. 

The organization confirmed that the feature is undergoing tests with selected users but didn't comment further either on the confirmation or the launch. 

The creators can organize lessons through Pinterest’s class boards, manage class materials, notes, and other resources, and connect through a group chat option. The classes would work through communities- similar to pinboards, if a user wants to join a class, they'll have to click on a sign (a book) to join and they will be mailed with the class detail and zoom link. The communities will be a space to inform about notes, photos, class overview, description, group chat, and more. like lists of what to bring to class, notes, photos, and more. 

The feature was discovered by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong on Tuesday by looking into class details. Though, she adds that clicking on these links results in nothing as the feature is not yet active. There are some demo profiles that you can check out: “@pinsmeditation” or “@pinzoom123,” but their communities are empty.

 "We are experimenting with ways to help creators interact more closely with their audience," a Pinterest spokesperson said in a statement. 

 The social media company is constantly on the rise with 442 million global monthly users and a 50 percent increase in Gen Z loggers. Their Q3 revenue rose to 58 percent and a 60 percent increase is expected in Q4. With these numbers, it is no shock that the company will invest in new features and quirks for their users, and what could be more beneficial than online classes during a worldwide pandemic. As Pinterest commented, "We continue to navigate uncertainty given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other factors".