New privacy app claims it can ‘fix’ social media’s privacy issues

A new privacy assistant app claims it can help users “fix the privacy mess” by automatically tightening privacy controls on social media and removing old posts.

Jumbo, which has launched on Apple’s iOS and will shortly also arrive on Android, asks users to connect their Twitter and Facebook accounts to the app in order to help them manage the data they put on both platforms.

For Twitter, users choose to delete tweets on a time frame of their choosing – for example removing them after a month – with the removed posts backed-up to an archive found inside the Jumbo app, only accessible to the user.

It also claims to help with the “confusing” privacy settings on Facebook by asking users who opt-in to select one of three settings for their Facebook privacy, the app automatically tweaking more than 30 Facebook settings as a result.

“Unfortunately, every day it feels like there is a new story about our personal data being compromised,” chief executive Pierre Valade said when launching the app.

“But the good news is that people increasingly care about protecting their privacy. In fact, I believe privacy is a human right. But our privacy can only be protected when great tools are designed with people in mind, and make this complex issue as simple as tapping a button. That’s what why we built Jumbo.”

The company also claims that unlike other internet services it does not store or process any user data remotely or through third-parties, with all the app’s processing done on the smartphone itself.

“We made an important decision while building Jumbo for iPhone: all the processing will happen from your iPhone, without any servers from Jumbo, or any third-parties, having access to your personal data, or passwords,” Mr Valade writes in a blog post on the firm’s website.

“This data: it’s not ours, it’s yours. So our client-side architecture makes it impossible for anyone working at Jumbo, or any third-parties, to have a look into your personal data.

“Even if a government asks Jumbo, with the right court order, to provide them with personal data, we would not be able to do so. The personal data stays on your iPhone, encrypted.”

The app also supports the ability to delete search history Google, as well as the voice recordings saved by the Amazon Alexa app. Support for Instagram profiles and dating app Tinder – focused around deleting old matches and chat messages – are both coming soon, Jumbo said.

Social media platforms have come under increased scrutiny in recent years following a string of security breaches and data privacy issues, with governments around the world now discussing how to more strictly regulate internet companies.

On Monday, the UK Government published a white paper around online harms, which proposes the establishment of a new independent regulator for the sector, which will be charged with enforcing a statutory duty of care placed upon social media and other platforms to protect users and their data.