According to a new report that may raise new privacy concerns, Facebook has paid users, including teenagers, to track their smartphone activity to gather more data to help the efforts of competition on social networks.
A survey conducted by the TechCrunch online news site revealed that this effort, known as Onavo Protect and later renamed to Facebook Research, was used to collect data on usage patterns.
The news could be a further embarrassment for Facebook, which has been scrutinized for failing to repress the manipulation of its platform and for sharing private data with its trading partners.
Facebook announced the closure of the Apple iOS application Wednesday after the publication of the article TechCrunch. We still do not know if it remains active for Android users.
The report states that the first Onavo application was closed for violation of Apple's privacy policy and that the new version could also violate Apple's terms.
The program pays users aged 13 to 35 up to $ 20 per month for "root" access to their devices to track their location, usage of apps, consumer habits, and more. activities.
In a statement to AFP, Facebook said there was "nothing secret" in its efforts and that Onavo and Facebook Research were separate programs.
"It was not an" espionage "because all the people who registered took part in a clear integration process asking for permission and were paid to participate," said the Facebook release.
"Finally, less than five percent of those who chose to participate in this market research program were teenagers. All with signed parental consent forms. "
The project may have allowed Facebook to collect more data on younger users as it rejects the challenges of competing services such as Snapchat, which has become more popular than Facebook among US teens.
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