Apple has dragged down the offensive app Like Patrol from the App Store for breaking policies that command data gathering. The app has been forbidden for permitting users to monitor the Instagram activity of other users, without their consent. Like Patrol, which calls itself an Instagram Activity Insights app enabled users to track every particular action of any other user they required to keep a trail of, including who they liked or followed. The Facebook-owned Instagram had posted a cease-and-desist note to the developers of the app last month.
“New guy? New girl? What are they up to on Instagram? Similar to Patrol, you can view the posts they particularly like! Discover who their top fans are,” is how Like Patrol defines itself. Pretty spooky, secure to tell. Alike Patrol would enable users, for a monthly fee, established their account, put a target on anyone they need to chase and the Like Patrol app would inform them whenever the stalking target post up a new picture/video, someone liked a post, someone commented on their post, who this person was following instantly and further. And there were narrow sub-metrics regarding the following etc. This was made by rubbing user profiles, which instantly breaks Instagram’s regulations. There can be all kinds of conversations about how Like Patrol is not specifically stalkware, but there is no intent getting into whataboutery concerning what is true and utterly stalking at its most vulnerable.
If this wasn’t offensive, Like Patrol also supposedly had algorithms that would indicate a user the “attractiveness” of someone liking or commenting on the post of the user who was being stalked at the moment.
It is precisely this kind of activity that Instagram has been clamping down on, lately. In fact, the Instagram app no longer has the “Following” tab, which enabled your friends and followers to view who you have been following and the posts you have been liking on social media. This tab was withdrawn from the app in October. Hence, it was very much doubtful that Instagram would have provided a third-party app to submit this data, and probably a lot more data about innocent users, to possible stalkers.
