Instagram vs Bluesky

Meta collects a very broad range of information, including your activity, device identifiers, contacts, location signals, partner data and even some data about non-users. In practice, using Instagram feeds a large cross-service profile.

Your information can be used for personalized ads both on Meta products and on other apps and websites, including data from third-party business tools. This means your activity beyond Instagram may affect the ads you see.

If your Instagram account or content is public, it can be seen by anyone, including people without accounts, and may appear off-platform such as in search results. Public content can also be reshared or downloaded by third parties.

Apps and sites connected through login or integrations can access your information, and previously shared data may remain with them even after access expires. Their handling is governed by their own policies, not Meta’s.

Your information may be shared across Meta companies for safety, analytics, product development and connected experiences. This expands use of your data beyond Instagram alone.

Meta says it does not sell your personal information to advertisers and does not share directly identifying details like your name or email unless you specifically permit it. This is a meaningful limit, though profiling still occurs.

Users are offered tools to view, manage, download, port and delete their information. This gives practical control and helps with account exit or switching services.

Deleting content or an account is not immediate: deletion may take up to 90 days, plus up to another 90 days for backups, and some data can be kept longer. Users should not expect instant erasure.

You keep ownership of what you post, but Meta gets a license to use your content for providing and improving its services until deletion is fully completed. This is standard for social media but still significant.

Consumer disputes can be brought in a competent court in your country of main residence under that country’s law. This is better for users than mandatory arbitration or a foreign-only forum.

Meta says it will usually give at least 30 days’ notice before material terms changes take effect, giving users time to review and leave if they disagree. That is more transparent than immediate unilateral changes.

Direct messages are not end-to-end encrypted and may be accessed for trust and safety purposes. Users should not treat Bluesky DMs as highly confidential communications.

Posts, profile, likes, follows, and blocks are public by design. This makes social graph and activity data broadly visible rather than private by default.

Even if you delete your account, copies of your content may remain on other services using the AT Protocol. In practice, deletion across the decentralized network may not be fully enforceable.

Most disputes must go through a 60-day informal process and then binding individual arbitration instead of court. This usually makes it harder to bring claims publicly or use normal court procedures.

Users generally cannot participate in class or representative actions against Bluesky. That reduces leverage for small-value claims that are impractical to pursue individually.

Bluesky says it does not sell or share personal data for targeted advertising. That's a meaningful privacy-positive commitment compared with many social platforms.

Depending on location, users can request access, correction, deletion, portability, restriction, objection, and review of automated decisions. These are substantial privacy rights, especially for users in stronger-regulation jurisdictions.

You keep ownership of what you post, but grant Bluesky a worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute, display, moderate, and promote that content. This is broad enough to cover product use and marketing uses.

Bluesky keeps data while your account is active and may retain it longer for trust and safety, disputes, audits, legal compliance, and claims. The policy does not give firm deletion deadlines for many categories.

If something goes wrong, Bluesky's financial liability is generally limited to US$100, except in narrow cases like fraud, gross negligence causing death or personal injury, or non-waivable statutory rights.

The terms explicitly say you can delete your account at any time in settings. A built-in deletion flow is more user-friendly than requiring manual support requests.

If your account is suspended or restricted, you can appeal using an in-app tool or email within two weeks. EU/EEA users also retain access to out-of-court review and local courts.