Earlier this month, Facebook parent company Meta launched an app called Threads to compete with Twitter as a text-based social media platform. Within days, a hundred million users had joined — however, many experts are warning that Threads poses the same old risks to your privacy as Facebook.

Because Threads operates by the same privacy policies as Facebook and Instagram, it gathers as much user data as possible, including potentially sensitive information including health, financial, and location data. Just like Facebook, it needs this info to keep feeding you ads, and as experts point out, the company hasn’t learned many lessons from its past mistakes in this area.

“Meta has not only not changed its business model, it continues to want to do targeted ads, essentially surveillance advertising,” AI ethics professor Carissa Veliz told The Guardian. “The company is trying to collect as much data as possible and trying to continue in the same direction as it has from the very start despite all the scandals, despite the public backlash, despite warnings from regulators, despite fines. It’s not reimagining its business model to make it a more respectful business model towards users.”

While a new social media platform is enticing, it’s probably worth taking a step back and thinking hard before signing up for yet another Facebook-owned platform that will hoover up your data.

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