The rise of social media is resulting in increased data surveillance (van der Schyff, Flowerday & Furnell, 2020). Social media data is used by corporates to better target their consumers and has enabled them to flourish (van der Schyff et al., 2020). Social media use and data surveillance are correlated in the sense that the more users engage with social media, the more data surveillance is becoming the standard (van der Schyff et al., 2020). In addition, van der Schyff et al. (2020) argued that on the long-term, data surveillance will not only have an effect on users’ information privacy but also their behavior and freedom offline. So, next to positive outcomes, the use of social media also has negative outcomes.
As mentioned data surveillance can have a negative side. For instance, a Chinese tech company, called Zhenhua, recently came into the light because of a leaked database (Hurst, Kuo & Graham-Mclay, 2020). This database contained information on 2.4 million known and unknown people worldwide. This included well-known people such as politicians, celebrities, military people, and royals. Believed is that the company has linkages with the Chinese military and intelligence networks and that the information gathered is used to get a better understanding of how to practice influence (Hurst et al., 2020).
This database is called The overseas key information database (Hurst et al., 2020). Although sources say otherwise, the company itself claims that all data gathered is public data and that they do not have any connections to the government. A spokesman of Zhenhua mentioned that the database is solely used to link social media users to their online activity (Hurst et al., 2020).
To conclude, the use of social media comes with increased risks, such as surveillance of data. A company like Zhenzua is not the only one collecting data of users through social media, and users should be aware of what information of them is out there.
References
Hurst, D., Kuo, L., & Graham-Mclay, C. (2020). Zhenzua data leak: personal details of millions around the world gathered by Chinese tech company [online]. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/14/zhenhua-data-full-list-leak-database-personal-details-millions-china-tech-company
Schyff van der, K., Flowerday, S., & Furnell, S. (2020). Duplicitous social media and data surveillance: an evaluation of privacy risk. Computers & Security, 94, 101822.
