cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31187638

Earlier today I came across a Reddit comment with a link to an Instagram post. The link had ?igsh= at the end.

When I clicked on the link, I got this popup. It had a name and profile photo that was different from that of the post being shared.

Join Firstname Lastname on Instagram

See photos, videos, and more from Firstname Lastname.

[ Open Instagram ]

not now

I avoid link trackers. However, I did not realize it was this bad.

To my knowledge, TikTok does the same thing and lists the name of the person that shared the link. Assuming this increases engagement, any website could enable such a feature, even on old links that you shared in the past.

You should manually remove any trackers before sharing, or use an app for it.

  • otter@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    45·
    2 months ago

    1. Setting anything as your default “browser” when it’s not a browser is only a little sus — “open” source, or no.

    2. Don’t share a link if you can’t find its complete “verbose” version.

    3. …

    4. 🤷🏽‍♂️🤞🏽

    • conciselyverbose
      5·
      2 months ago

      The reasoning is super transparent. It’s the only way it could do what it’s doing. 🤷🏼‍♀️

    • MicrowavedTea@infosec.pub
      3·
      2 months ago

      How is it more “sus” than setting any other application as default browser? It needs to be default because that’s how Android works.

    • CheradenineEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      You can also set default browser to ‘none’ then anytime you tap a link a list of browsers and things like Leon, URL check etc. will pop up. In any case they don’t require internet access to work.