Facebook caught sharing user data with Tinder, OKCupid and Pregnancy+
Facebook(FB) is back in news for sharing its user data with Android app developers working for Tinder, OkCupid, Migraine Buddy, and PregnancyPlus. And Buzzfeed was the first to report about this practice discovered by a Germany based mobile security firm named Mobilsicher.
Researchers say that over 30% of apps in the Google Play Store were found to be collecting data from their users which includes sensitive details such as religious affiliation & preferences, dating profiles, and healthcare-related data. They then exchange that data with Facebook. And in return get info about where users click, how long they use the app and the location from which they access the app.
It’s said that at the startup level, many of the app developers have a penchant to share the information generated by their respective users with big companies like Facebook and Google. And in-exchange gets some benefits such as increasing the visibility of the app on Google Play Store or offering the app some analytics to improve their application’s user base.
A highly placed source from Facebook admitted that personal info is being collected by the social networking giant via its Software Developer Kit(SDK) – a platform that offers developers and users the prerequisite to log in to other online services with their Facebook accounts.
The source adds that Facebook gains access to info such as the device in use, what time the users utilize the app, the IP address and the location of the user. Then it assigns a specific advertising ID to that device which can be read by the app and that too without the need of any permission from the device user. After this process, Mark Zuckerberg’s company then targets that user’s device with advertisements at regular intervals.
Noted apps such as Bible+, Curvy, ForDiabetes, Grindr, Kwitt, Moodpath, and Muslim Pro were caught sharing their user details with Facebook.
