Evaluating and Comparing the Usability of Privacy in WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat

Abstract

With the increased use of social networking platforms, especially with the inclusion of sensitive personal information, it has become important for those platforms to have adequate levels of security and privacy. This research aimed to evaluate the usability of privacy in the WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat applications. The evaluation was conducted based on the structured analysis of privacy (STRAP) framework. Seven expert evaluators performed heuristic evaluations and applied the 11 STRAP heuristics to the privacy policy statements and settings provided in the WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat applications. This study provides useful information for designers and developers of social media applications as well as users of the apps. In particular, the results indicate that Snapchat had the highest severity rating, followed by Twitter and WhatsApp. Moreover, the most notable severity rating for all the apps was regarding the ability to revoke consent, where all of the apps had a very high number of usability problems.

Evaluating Cognitive Privacy Heuristics that Influence Facebook Users Data Disclosure

“…Moreover, the authors demonstrate that some users may be persuaded to alter their disclosure behaviors in a manner that is more consistent with the preferences of the system. In this way, the following hypotheses were supported: (a) requesting sensitive items first reduces subsequent disclosures by users, and (b) asked items answered by experienced participants show minor variation in the volume of exposure than requested items answered by less experienced partici- The work of Albesher and Alhussain [2021] evaluate and compare the usability of privacy in WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat. In this evaluation, the structured analysis of privacy (STRAP) framework was used.…”

Young Saudis’ Evaluations and Perceptions of Privacy in Digital Communities: The Case of WhatsApp and Telegram

“…People use digital communities for multiple purposes, such as chatting with friends and family or connecting to their colleagues at work. Most users of digital community platforms prefer accessing these platforms through their smartphone applications (apps) [2]. Almost half of the world's population uses digital community platforms [3].…”

“…Studies that test the usability of privacy settings and policies in social media are limited. Albesher and Alhussain evaluated WhatsApp, Twitter, and Snapchat [2]. Alemerien tried to simplify the privacy settings related to sharing photos through a new visualization mechanism [12].…”

“…Dias Canedo et al administered a survey with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practitioners to understand how these experts adopted data privacy concepts during software design [15]. As far as we know, most studies have evaluated the usability of privacy for one app [13,14,[16][17][18], and only one study [2] has compared privacy settings and policies for several apps. However, the tested apps (Twitter, Snapchat, and WhatsApp) differ in the features they grant to users, which makes the privacy settings and policies hard to compare.…”

Análise e Comparação de Usabilidade em Configurações de Privacidade: um Estudo de Caso das Redes Sociais Instagram, Facebook e Twitter

“…Atualmente, mais de três bilhões de pessoas utilizam redes sociais [Albesher and Alhussain 2021], e o aumento no número de usuários implica no aumento do volume de dados privados e pessoais compartilhados. Embora essas plataformas oferec ¸am configurac ¸ões de privacidade para que os usuários exerc ¸am controle sobre seus dados, uma grande parcela de usuários não altera suas configurac ¸ões de seguranc ¸a (ibid.).…”