Concerns about social media privacy have been on the rise, and audio-based iPhone app Clubhouse has been the recent addition to the list of platforms shrouded in controversy due to their user security and privacy policy.
Clubhouse is an exclusive, invite-only app that allows users to enter chat rooms and listen to and participate in conversations on various topics. While joining the app may seem appealing, there are some security and privacy concerns you should know about before taking the leap, including:
Sharing contacts
For you to join Clubhouse, an existing user must invite you. When you sign up, the app asks for permission to access your phonebook. Once you do so, it shows you which people on your contact list use Clubhouse and asks you to send an invite to those who don’t. If you don’t, you lose the privilege of sending invites.
By giving Clubhouse access to your contact list, the private company knows every person you interact with, including your doctor, what religious places you frequent, and the like. It’s unknown what efforts the company takes to protect this private information.
Clubhouse conversations
While the company says that its rooms are temporary and the conversations are deleted once you leave a room, it also claims that they only record a conversation to avoid untoward incidents, such as abuse. It appears that no one moderates the conversations as they happen, which means the information is stored for content moderation.
While most platforms offer end-to-end encryption, this doesn’t seem to be the case with Clubhouse. Earlier this year, a Clubhouse user publicly streamed multiple audio feeds into a third-party platform. To assume that the conversations would be entirely private may not be the right way to go about using Clubhouse. You may have to be more careful about what information you disclose during a conversation on this platform.
Additionally, even deleting your Clubhouse account isn’t easy—you’re required to send an email to the given email address to do so. While Clubhouse is still in beta, considering its large user base, it’s yet to be seen how the company addresses these concerns.