Report: Period Tracking Apps May Have Shared Users’ Sexual Histories With Facebook

Facebook’s entire business platform involves making money off our data. However, some of the information it collects about us crosses the line — especially when that information comes from third-party apps that users may not know share data with the social media giant. One disturbing example of this occurred this week when Privacy International reported that several prominent period-tracking apps have allegedly shared users’ personal information with Facebook, including the last time they had sex, what kind of birth control they use and more.

The apps in question, Maya and MIA Fem, are accused of automatically transferring data when a user opens the app. While many apps do this, the fact that the information contained in these is so sensitive has privacy experts and users upset.

“When Maya asks you to enter how you feel and offers suggestions of symptoms you might have — suggestions like blood pressure, swelling or acne — one would hope this data would be treated with extra care,” the report said. “But no, that information is shared with Facebook.”

Thankfully, after the report, Maya acted quickly to patch the privacy problem.

“Maya does not sell data to Facebook or ANY third party,” the app’s founder said. “We have in the past used tools from Facebook, strictly to improve our product experience. We have proactively removed these tools from all versions of the app due to concerns about privacy.”

While this controversy isn’t really Facebook’s fault, it’s still indicative of the company’s appetite for our data — even when that data is super personal.




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