All users able to see files in external storage

Nextcloud version (eg, 20.0.5): 23.0.12
Operating system and version (eg, Ubuntu 20.04): 22.04

The issue you are facing:

I have configured a local external storage by adding a volume in Linode and used this storage to upload a few photos. The problem is that every user now sees those photos.

I want to make it private so that the only the person uploading gets to see it unless explicitly shared.

Am absolutely new to NextCloud, apologies if there is an obvious setting that I have missed.

You can define external storage at two levels: the user and the server. If you attach it at the server level, you can limit access to groups.

If it’s just to be used by one person, enable users to add their own external storage in the settings, then add it under your individual account instead of server-wide.