Facebook forbids apps from scooping up unrelated user data


  • TECH
  • Friday, 26 Apr 2019

The Facebook Inc. website is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone in this arranged photograph taken in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Monday, April 22, 2019. As Facebook Inc. prepares to report first-quarter results Wednesday, analysts are confident that the social-media company has moved past negative headlines that dogged the stock throughout the second half of 2018 and is positioned to monetize its massive user base in new ways. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

Facebook Inc banned apps from running personality quizzes of the kind that spurred the Cambridge Analytica data-sharing scandal in an attempt to strengthen the social media platform’s privacy and security. 

“Apps with minimal utility, such as personality quizzes, may not be permitted on the platform,” Facebook’s Eddie O’Neil said April 25 in a blog post. In the future, apps will also be forbidden from asking for data that doesn’t directly “enrich the in-app user experience”, he said in the post. 

The Star Festive Promo: Get 35% OFF Digital Access

Monthly Plan

RM 13.90/month

Best Value

Annual Plan

RM 12.33/month

RM 8.02/month

Billed as RM 96.20 for the 1st year, RM 148 thereafter.

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Next In Tech News

New app helps you sit up straight while at your computer
Dispose of CDs, DVDs while protecting your data and the environment
'Just the Browser' strips AI and other features from your browser
How do I reduce my child's screen time?
Anthropic buys Super Bowl ads to slap OpenAI for selling ads in ChatGPT
Chatbot Chucky: Parents told to keep kids away from talking AI dolls
South Korean crypto firm accidentally sends $44 billion in bitcoins to users
Opinion: Chinese AI videos used to look fake. Now they look like money
Anthropic mocks ChatGPT ads in Super Bowl spot, vows Claude will stay ad-free
Tesla 2.0: What customers think of Model S demise, Optimus robot rise

Others Also Read