Thread by @soychicka

Looks like Instagram has totally removed all links to permanently delete your account from your profile page, so your only visible option is to disable your account (but they can keep your data). This is a big deal.

FTFY.
instagram.com/accounts/remov…

This is black hat design, and seems to border on impeding or even fraudulently misrepresenting the users' rights to remove all their data from their service.

And this is not the first time Facebook has pulled this crap:
@amyklobuchar @MarkWarner @SenJohnKennedy

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similarly, most users can't find the link to delete their facebook account - I've seen this several times in the past few days... and this is a move to keep users from successfully deleting their accounts so they can parrot the talking point of not losing many users....

to minimize the impact on their revenue stream, and convince advertisers to continue dumping dollars into a user base that is artificially inflated.
This is coersion through obfuscation. This is holding your data hostage.

Is this ethical? Should this be legal?
I say HELL NO.

Unwanted email is an inconvenience. Not being able to delete data is theft.

It's time to make sure that we control who has access to our data. And if you don't deserve to serve us, we have the right to easily sever that relationship, and remove your access to our data.

And if you don't allow us to do that, it's time to stop patronizing those who advertise on a platform that is holding our data hostage.

Sincerely,

A white hat user experience architect and former Instagram/Facebook user

Please, everyone, share this information so it gets the media attention and regulatory attention it deserves.

@CNN @AliVelshi @SRuhle @KatyTurNBC @maddow @WillAtWork @jaketapper @pdacosta @AriMelber @TheLastWord @Moonalice @ericgarland @AGSchneiderman