Apple slaps down Facebook in cash for teen data scandal
Facebook’s inability to break free from a pattern of successive data scandals has been highlighted by Apple after it banned the social giant from publishing certain apps, after it was found to be paying users as young as 13 to install software which allowed it to access all data sent or received by their iPhone over the internet.
Apple slaps down Facebook in fresh data controversy
The iOS Facebook Research app invited volunteers, who were paid a monthly fee of up to $20, to install a virtual private network that routed all data from iOS and Android handsets through its own servers, mimicking the functionality of the Onavo Project - an app which had already been banned by Apple over privacy violations.
To circumvent this ban Facebook asked installers to make use of an ‘enterprise developer certificate’ intended for commercial applications for internal use.
In response, Apple immediately revoked Facebook’s ability to publish particular apps, amid fears it had exploited a loophole in Apple’s privacy regulations to gain a competitive advantage in identifying developing youth trends.
Addressing the issue during a flurry of TV interviews Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said: “This is a Facebook research app - it's very clear to the people participating that it's completely opt-in, they go through a rigorous consent flow and people are compensated.
“That said, we know we have work to do to make sure people's data is protected. It's your information and you put it on Facebook so you need to know what's happening. We continue to focus on this work. In this case, the important thing is that the people participating in the research project knew they were involved and consented. As soon as we realised we weren't in compliance with the rules on their platform we pulled it.”
Apple and Facebook have a history of failing to see eye to eye on data protection issues with chief executive Tim Cook directly criticising the ‘surveillance’ practices of its rivals.
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