Stranger danger? Here’s how a random person on the bus can still find you on Instagram
Two strangers exchanged glances on a bus. Then one of them followed the other’s burner account on Instagram.
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Social media platforms use shared data points to suggest profiles to people who are simply in the same vicinity.
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These digital breadcrumbs can lead strangers to discover your daily routines, workplace, and relationships, opening the door to stalking.
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A "burner" account is not truly anonymous if it is verified with the same phone number as your main profile or if you allow the app to sync your contacts.
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To protect your anonymity, you should disable location services on social apps, avoid public WiFi, and never link the same phone number or contacts across separate accounts.
This happened to one Reddit user, who shared in a recent post on the forum that their burner account was followed by someone with whom they had briefly made eye contact on the bus.
The netizen hinted that their account was private, since the person’s request to follow them was added to the list. What made the whole situation even stranger was that the original poster didn’t include a profile picture or their name on their account.
“I wasn't using Instagram on the bus, so I need to understand how someone can even do something like this,” the Redditor pondered.
A stranger on the bus finding the same day a burner account of mine how is that possible ?
by u/Designer-Bass4661 in privacy
How can strangers find you on social media?
The fact that the Redditor’s account was suggested to the stranger shouldn’t be a surprise, considering that social media platforms, such as Instagram, have enough data to find links between two strangers to start suggesting each other.
If a person hadn’t turned off their location sharing, and if both people were using the same WiFi on the bus, Meta “has more than enough data to connect one person to the other,” said Henry Fisher, the CEO of Techlore, to Cybernews.
His website focuses on educating people about digital rights and privacy.
“The Reddit user called it a burner account, but if it was verified with a phone number they use anywhere else, it isn't really a burner,” noted the expert.
Having your Bluetooth on could also give away certain data about you, such as your name, for example, “Jane’s iPhone,” according to Oleksii Glib, the founder of SimQube, a platform providing mobile privacy by detaching SIM cards from physical phones.
However, both experts noted that there’s another, more concerning way the Redditor’s account could’ve been found: through a photo search.
Perhaps the stranger was discreet enough to take a photo of the original poster and then use facial recognition tools such as PimEyes to find the person online.
Curious what others think about this story? Contribute your thoughts to the debate below.
Such services crawl the internet to match the face in the image to social media profiles, new mentions, and forum posts.
Experts also noticed that these tactics are no longer limited to advanced hackers. Now, anyone can do it.
Strangers can already be identified in real time with devices such as Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses when paired with commercial facial recognition software.
“The capability exists, it's affordable, and Meta is reportedly building a version of it directly into the glasses,” shared Fisher.
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Privacy concerns beyond social media
While being followed on social media by someone you don’t know and only saw for a second could be uncomfortable, the implications of such an encounter could go much further, experts warn.
In the digital space, information found about you could be used for stalking, surveillance, or social engineering.
This could then go as far as physical stalking.
“Someone you make brief eye contact with on a bus can find you online before you've reached your stop. From there, the rest follows: your routine, where you work, who you spend time with,” explained Fisher.
How to protect your anonymity online?
It seems that the separation between our digital profiles and our real selves is disappearing.
Nevertheless, there are a few tips and tricks that can help users protect themselves from unwanted followers.
- Turn off location services for social media apps.
- Avoid using public WiFi to handle sensitive matters.
- Don’t charge your phone from a public USBC port.
- Don’t use the same phone number for accounts you want to keep separate. This is how anonymous accounts are linked to the real ones.
- Don’t sync contacts on social media platforms.
- Keep in mind that you can be found online through photo search, because modern tools index vast amounts of images.
- When uploading an image, make sure it doesn’t show sensitive details, such as recurring clothing, recognizable locations, or home surroundings.
Do brands use the same tactics to show ads?
Once, my friend told me that she’s glad to see relevant ads.
“This way, I don’t need to look for things myself,” she said.
At that moment, I thought she was the only person I had met who wasn’t mad at companies for “spying” on her.
The situation shared by the Redditor also made me question whether brands and businesses also use the same tactic to show consumers related ads.
Suggesting people on social media and showing relevant ads is actually built on the same “data foundation,” according to Fisher.
He noted that brands have been using location-based ad targeting for quite some time, with Meta implementing the “lookalike audiences” method, which works similarly to friends' suggestions.
“Find people who behave like the people you already have, then push content at them,” added the expert.
However, companies like Google and Meta target people at an even bigger rate by running “a hyper-targeted ad campaign by location, age range, and demographic, and when someone clicks, you know who they are,” added Glib.
FAQ about location privacy on social media
How can a stranger find my social media account just by being near me?
Your social media profile could be suggested to strangers if your location is on, you're using Bluetooth, or you're on the same public WiFi network.
Is a "burner" account completely untraceable?
Not necessarily. If you verify a burner account using the same phone number that you use for other accounts or in your daily life, the platforms can link the anonymous account directly to your real identity.
What are the dangers of a stranger finding my social media profile?
Beyond the initial discomfort, information can be used for digital stalking, surveillance, and social engineering. In severe cases, it can escalate to physical stalking, as a stranger can easily figure out your daily routine, workplace, and the people you spend time with.
How can I protect my online anonymity from strangers?
To protect yourself, you should turn off location services for your social media apps. Avoid using public WiFi and syncing your contacts on social media. Use a completely different phone number for accounts you want to keep anonymous. When uploading images, be careful not to reveal sensitive details such as home surroundings.
Do brands use these same tracking tactics for ads?
Suggesting people to follow and showing relevant advertisements are built on the same "data foundation." Brands use location-based ad targeting and methods like Meta's "lookalike audiences" to find consumers who behave like their current customers, running hyper-targeted campaigns based on location, age, and demographics.
FAQ by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
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