Using NGL, a new Instagram fad, might put your personal information at risk

This new platform comes under the name of NGL (or Not Gonna Lie), and like the previously mentioned one, it allows you to receive anonymous questions or comments that you can answer for all your friends to see. If you’ve been keeping an eye on your friends ‘ Instagram stories, you’ve probably seen some begging for anonymous questions. Yes, exactly as it was done on ASKfm a decade ago.

To start receiving questions, you first need to download the app on your phone. Subsequently, create a profile and publish the link that the service gives you. But beware, and it is that a quick reading of the service‘s privacy policy reveals much more than what NGL shows us at first. The app does not care too much about the safety of its users. The app is a huge red flag. Taking a look at the privacy policy of this new trend on Instagram, you can discover how the app “washes its hands” of any responsibility. From access to your bank details to the transfer of your data to third parties.

What’s the deal with NGL on Instagram?

The operation is quite simple. Once registered in the app, a link is generated that you can share on your Twitter account, your Instagram stories, or any social network you want. Using this link, the rest of the users will be able to enter and leave you their messages. All anonymous, yes, and there is no need to create an account to leave comments.

The idea is quite funny. Surround the profiles that know how to take advantage of the new application with mysteries and a lot of engagement. In addition, it allows you to converse more fluidly with your followers, and some could reveal things that they would never have said with public profiles. But enough of making it desirable. We come to talk to you about the problem that the new Instagram trend brings, which could endanger your accounts or your devices.

NGL’s privacy policy has several large, unclarified topics

We’ll start by saying that NGL takes care of almost nothing. If you read the privacy policy of the app carefully, you can tell that they try to avoid the responsibility of protecting your data. Using phrases like “but”, “however”, or “although”, they try to achieve some basic security practices, but without actually touching on any of them. Of course, this is a pretty smart move if you don’t care about protecting your users’ data. After all, you are leaving the decisions “in their hands”, playing with words and making them believe that you will protect them, “except if…”.

Red flag #1. “We collect and use personal information from and about you,” reads the first clause of the privacy policy. They then proceed to describe the data they collect. Between them we have:

• Contact information (name, address, email, details about social networks, and telephone number.)
• Profile photo, communication preferences, profile name, questions, and answers.
• demographic information.
• Payment data. That’s right, NGL also collects information about credit or debit cards. Among them, we find the card number, name of the cardholder, expiration date, “etc.” This “etc.” It is not detailed on the web, but if the only thing left to collect is the security code, it does not transmit any trust. In case you use other payment methods, the line is the same.
• Network activity information, location (IP address and zip code).
• “We collect information about you from various sources, direct and indirect.” Of course, information about your devices is also stored.

Red flag #2. How does NGL use the information it collects? Well, not in the best way, being honest. Here we are going to leave you some highlights of this policy.

• International transfers of information. On its website, NGL comments that, although its headquarters are in the United States, your information could be transferred within or outside the region. Here, they comment that your data could reach sites “where the privacy laws are not as understandable” as the ones they manage. Therefore, they are not responsible for what happens to them.
• Delete your information. Yes, you can delete the information that NGL has collected about you. However, the last part of this section is striking, and that is that they retain the right to “make exceptions” to the data they will delete about you. You have no guarantee that you will be left out of their database.
• Our favorite is the security section. Here, NGL tells us that “although we take reasonable steps to protect your personal information and identity, nothing on the Internet is 100% secure .” Thus, the application cannot “guarantee that all your identification will not be revealed in ways that you do not expect or that are not described in the privacy policy”. Phenomenal.

Conclusions

Although NGL’s privacy policy is pretty pathetic, they do have a great point. Nothing on the internet is 100% secure. Therefore, the best option you have is to stay away from these types of sites and applications.

On the other hand, you can choose to use tools like DuckDuckGo, which will make your browsing experience much safer. Even if a scandal recently rocked the DuckDuckGo community, it’s still a better option than surfing the vast ocean that is the web naked.

As a final tip, you can always protect your IP address with VPN services and firewalls. If you have an iPhone and are subscribed to iCloud+, you can take advantage of Private Relay. This native iOS feature allows you to hide your IP address and protects your unencrypted browsing activity. Thus, no one will be able to access it, including your ISP or Apple itself.