*Your favorite social media app may know more about your travels around the web than you realize. New research from Surfshark found that nine of the 10 popular social media apps it examined report collecting users’ browsing history on at least one major mobile platform.
Across all four categories studied — social media, e-commerce, messaging and generative AI — 18 of 40 apps, or 45%, reported collecting information about websites users visit.
According to Surfshark’s research, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube and Pinterest reported collecting browsing history on both Android and iOS.
Reddit, LinkedIn and Snapchat reported collecting it on Android but not iOS. Discord was the only social media app among the 10 studied that didn’t report collecting browsing history on either platform.
Scroll to continue reading
Shopping Apps Want Browsing Data Too
Social media wasn’t alone.
Half of the 10 e-commerce apps Surfshark analyzed reported collecting browsing history on at least one operating system. eBay, Shopee and Shopify reported doing so on both Android and iOS, while Taobao reported the practice only on iOS and AliExpress only on Android.
Three messaging apps — Rakuten Viber, Messenger and LINE — also reported collecting browsing-history information.
Generative AI apps stood out in comparison. Of the 10 AI apps included in the research, Google Gemini was the only one that reported collecting browsing history.
Surfshark says browsing information can help platforms develop a more detailed picture of users’ interests, personalize content, and deliver more specifically targeted advertising.
What the Study Actually Measured
There’s an important distinction before you start side-eyeing every app on your phone.
Surfshark didn’t independently catch these apps secretly watching people’s screens or record their internet traffic. Researchers examined the privacy information the apps themselves reported to Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store.
Specifically, Surfshark recorded whether each app disclosed collecting “Browsing History” through Apple or “Web Browsing History” through Google Play.
The company selected 40 leading apps, with 10 each from social media, e-commerce, messaging and generative AI. Most were chosen using Cloudflare’s rankings of popular global internet services.
The findings add another privacy consideration for people who spend much of their day bouncing among social apps. EURweb has previously covered privacy-related mobile settings that affect what apps do in the background.
So, no, Surfshark’s research doesn’t prove every app is secretly spying on everything you do. But it does show that browsing-history collection is widespread — particularly among social media platforms — and the disclosures are sitting right there in the app stores.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: 100 Facts That Tell You the U.S. Is Anti-Black
We Publish Breaking News 24/7. Don’t Miss Out! Sign up for our Free daily newsletter HERE.
