JD Vance, an Ohio senator, has a friends list and some publicly traded transactions on Venmo, which WIRED recently uncovered. The Venmo app has privacy concerns that many users—including celebrities—might not be completely aware of, as this discovery highlights. Venmo users’ friends list might be a privacy nightmare because, until recently, they were unable to hide it.
Venmo, a widely used social payments app, has faced criticism for years regarding its approach to user privacy. Although users have the option to make individual transactions private, this was not the default setting for a long time. The lack of default privacy settings meant that users had to manually change their settings to protect their transaction histories from public view. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) eventually got involved, compelling Venmo to find a way to allow users to make all past public transactions private.
The issue of making friends lists private remained unaddressed for a significant period. Being friends with someone on Venmo doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve transacted with them; it could simply indicate that you or they have synced phone contacts at some point. However, the public visibility of friends lists could pose significant privacy risks. For instance, professionals such as therapists who use Venmo for payments could inadvertently expose their client lists through their friends lists.
In 2021, a BuzzFeed News investigation found Joe Biden’s personal Venmo account by combing through public friends lists. This discovery highlighted the serious privacy implications and eventually led to changes in Venmo’s privacy settings. Venmo, owned by PayPal, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, a supporter of Vance, finally added a feature to make contact lists private.
Venmo’s commitment to improving privacy was emphasized in a statement to WIRED, where the company said, “Venmo takes our customers’ privacy very seriously, which is why we let customers choose their privacy settings — and we make it incredibly simple for customers to make their account private if they choose to do so.” Despite these assurances, many users remain unaware of how to utilize these privacy features effectively.
To enhance your privacy on Venmo, here are detailed steps to make your account as private as possible:
- Access Settings: Start by navigating to the “Settings” gear icon at the top of your Venmo profile page.
- Open Privacy Settings: Once on the Settings page, scroll down to find and select the “Privacy” option.
- Set Default Transactions to Private: Ensure your default setting for transactions is set to Private. This change will only affect individual transactions and does not make your entire account private.
- Adjust Friends List Privacy: While on the Privacy settings page, scroll down to the “Friends List” option.
- Make Friends List Private: Change the Friends List setting to Private. Additionally, toggle the option to prevent appearing in other people’s friend lists.
These steps significantly enhance privacy on Venmo, ensuring that both transaction histories and friends lists are protected from public view.
JD Vance, at 39 years old, is a true millennial and uses Venmo just like many others in his generation. However, his apparent lack of awareness about Venmo’s latest privacy features exposes a common issue among users. Venmo’s evolving privacy practices and the need for increased user awareness are critical, especially as the platform continues to be a popular choice for financial transactions among individuals and businesses.
Venmo has made significant strides in addressing privacy concerns, partly due to pressure from regulatory bodies like the FTC. Before these changes, users who wanted to ensure their transaction histories were private had to navigate the app’s settings manually, which many found cumbersome. The FTC’s intervention led Venmo to allow users to make all their past public transactions private, addressing a long-standing privacy issue.
Despite these improvements, the inability to make friends lists private until 2021 left users vulnerable. The public visibility of friends lists could reveal associations and interactions that users might prefer to keep private. This issue was particularly concerning for professionals who could inadvertently expose sensitive relationships, such as a therapist revealing their client list.
The BuzzFeed News investigation into Joe Biden’s Venmo account underscored the risks of public friends lists. The discovery of Biden’s account through public friends lists led to a significant push for Venmo to enhance its privacy features. Venmo’s eventual introduction of the option to make contact lists private was a major step forward in protecting user privacy.
Despite these advances, Venmo still does not offer an option to make an entire account private. Users must take individual steps to ensure their transactions and friends lists are not publicly visible. Venmo’s statement to WIRED highlighted their commitment to user privacy, but also pointed out that many users are unaware of these privacy features and how to utilize them.
The case of JD Vance and the broader concerns about Venmo’s privacy practices emphasize the importance of users being proactive about their privacy settings. While Venmo has introduced features to enhance privacy, users must remain vigilant and regularly review and update their settings. This is especially important for public figures and professionals who might be at higher risk of privacy breaches.
Considerable user knowledge and more comprehensive default privacy settings from Venmo are required, as the privacy concerns around the platform demonstrate. Although customers must eventually take proactive measures to protect their information, Venmo has made great progress in enhancing its privacy features. Users can improve the security of their Venmo accounts and feel more at ease when making financial transactions by keeping in mind the procedures mentioned above. A constant reminder of the vital significance of digital privacy in today’s connected society is provided by the way privacy policies on platforms such as Venmo are evolving.
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