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.

  • kambusha@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    22 days ago

    URLCheck may be the app you’re thinking of.

    Edit: the way it works, is that you set it up as your default browser. Then, whenever you hit a link, it will open up URLCheck first, and you’ll get to decide what to do with the link, strip away query parameters, and which app to open the link with.

    • CrayonRosary@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      19 days ago

      you set it up as your default browser

      You don’t have to. You can just copy any URL and share it to the app. Then copy it from the app.

    • otter@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      45·
      22 days 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. 🤷🏽‍♂️🤞🏽

      • MicrowavedTea@infosec.pub
        3·
        22 days 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.

      • Cheradenine@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        22 days 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.