Report: Popular Health Apps Share Sensitive Data With Facebook

Facebook’s entire business model relies on collecting as much data about its users as possible. However, sometimes the company gets more info than it even wants from its partners — including sensitive data that doesn’t jibe with the platform’s own privacy policies. That appears to be the case, as spelled out by a recent report from The Wall Street Journal that discovered 11 apps sending sensitive info to Facebook.

The Journal conducted a study of over 70 apps to turn up this information, and following the report, five of the apps either reduced or removed their transfer of data to Facebook. At least one of the app’s leaders admitted it may have made a mistake sending the information — and it may have even violated Facebook’s policies.

“Clearly, Facebook’s business model is unique and, unfortunately, we were not as diligent in aligning our data management with their privacy policy as we should have been,” Garner Bornstein, co-founder of sleep and meditation app Breethe, told The Wall Street Journal.

This case is different from many of Facebook’s other data scandals because the social media giant itself has discouraged apps from providing this sort of data. The company even said it’s working on systems to block these uploads from its app partners. So while Facebook may not be the bad guy here, it still finds itself at the center of yet another privacy controversy.




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