It’s mid-December. If you’re on Instagram you’re probably starting to see friends posting their Top Nine pictures of 2018. It’s done through a website that scans your posts and profile, but is this fun flashback safe?
The posts are created through a website called topnine.co (https://topnine.co/) where users enter their Instagram handles and email addresses. After a few minutes, the website sends a compilation of your nine most-liked images of the year.
But who’s behind it and what do they want?
The company is based in Uruguay, according to the website privacy policy. (https://topnine.co/privacy-policy/)
“The laws of Uruguay and other countries governing data collection and use may not be as comprehensive or protective as the laws of the country where you live,” the policy reads.
“That’s whack,” said Kevin Watson, an Instagrammer First Coast News spoke to at Jacksonville’s picturesque Memorial Park.
“It’s a little concerning,” said Sydney Brown, his friend and fellow Instagram user.
The concern doesn’t stop there.
The company saves your email address, username and the information on your Instagram profile to send you marketing emails.
If you link Top Nine to any of your social media accounts the company can access your friends and contacts.
The company says it’s not in the business of selling your information but, in the very next paragraph of the privacy policy admits it shares your information with other companies.
The company also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify or revise these terms at any time, and can take your ideas without giving you credit or compensation.
If any of your content sparks an idea with the company for new products or modifications, Top Nine, “shall be deemed to be non-confidential and we shall be free to reproduce, use, disclose, and distribute such Unsolicited Information to others without limitation or attribution,” according to the privacy policy.
“I don’t want to do top nine anymore,” Brown said.
So is Top Nine safe? That really depends on how much information you’re willing to give complete strangers in foreign countries, but First Coast News can verify while a Top Nine post might get you a lot of likes, you might be signing up for some things you probably don’t like
First Coast News reached out to the company for comment. Top Nine has not responded.