- Discord, Pinterest and Quora work best in the new social media confidentiality 2025
- Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Tiktok and X face penalties for bad privacy protections
- AI training policies and regulatory fines shape the platform classification in this year’s analysis
Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram were again reported as among the most invasive social media platforms.
The social media confidentiality classification report updated incogni for 2025 has placed Meta products alongside Tiktok at the bottom of its list.
X, the platform belonging to the billionaire of Division Elon Musk, also obtained a bad score in several categories, although it worked better than Meta’s services in certain regions, positioning it mid-table.
Discord shows how it should be done
Incogni researchers estimated the 15 most used social media platforms in the world, weighing them with 14 confidentiality criteria gathered in six categories.
These included data collection, transparency, use of AI data, regulatory transgressions, user control and ease of access.
The methodology has focused on the ease with which an ordinary user can understand and act on privacy policies, not only if the information exists first.
At the other end of the spectrum, Discord, Pinterest and Quora worked best in this year’s ranking.
Discord has exceeded the list after having avoided many of the traps with which the other platforms are faced, in particular its position on the fact of not providing user data for the formation of generative AI models.
Pinterest arrived second, mainly due to high user options and relatively few regulatory penalties. Quora took the third thanks to the limited data collection.
This will probably not surprise most Meta platforms have been strongly penalized in all categories.
Facebook stood out from repeated regulatory fines, including multiple violations of GDPR rules in Europe, as well as penalties in the United States and other jurisdictions.
Instagram and WhatsApp also contributed to the low classification of Meta, with policies allowing the collection of sensitive information such as data on health and sexual orientation.
X faced penalties for the in -depth collection of data and the previous fines linked to confidentiality, although they ranked higher than Meta and Tiktok in certain regions.
It was one of the easiest platforms to delete accounts, and its rate of disclosure of information from government agencies was lower than most.
However, its policies make it possible to use user data for the training of AI models, which has reduced its global confidentiality score.
AI concerns had a much greater impact compared to last year.
Reddit, who had previously been considered one of the safer platforms, fell into the ranking after the provision of its content for AI developers.
The avoidance by the discord of these practices helped to propel it upwards.
Transparency was another important factor. Many social platforms lacked clear details on the speed with which the data is deleted when users close their accounts.
Tiktok, Telegram and Reddit offered limited details, which lowered their scores.
Snapchat has also been distinguished for having disclosed information from government agencies at a higher rate than most competitors.
In the end, the report concludes that user confidentiality remains unevenly managed on all platforms. Consent can only be significant if information is both available and easy to understand.
