Venmo isn't taking privacy seriously enough

▤ Summary

Venmo rolled out a redesign that sets new users' transaction visibility to "friends only" rather than public, but it still leaves contacts public by default. The author argues this change falls short because contacts can expose users via others' friend lists, creating serious privacy risks demonstrated by past high-profile account discoveries. Venmo says customers have control over sharing and that the new experience makes privacy settings easier to manage, while the option to hide contacts remains available but buried in settings. The piece urges Venmo to adopt stronger privacy-by-default defaults and recommends users proactively make their contacts private now.

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