Apple prevents Facebook from offering research app that could monitor online activity

By Hamza Shaban
Apple announced on Wednesday that Facebook violated an agreement by distributing a data-collecting app to consumers, bypassing Apple’s normal review for an app intended for the public.

Apple said it is cutting off Facebook’s ability to offer the app to consumers.

The announcement comes after TechCrunch revealed Facebook has been paying some users $20 per month to install a research app on their phones that can collect intimate information about their online behavior and communications.

Apple’s developer program allows companies to create their own apps for employees, giving them a way to test and use apps outside of the app store, which are not subject to the same privacy and data policies as those intended for public consumption. But Facebook used this process to sidestep the app store and offer a research app directly to consumers, which Apple has ruled is a breach of the agreement.

“We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization, Apple said. “Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple.”

Since 2016, Facebook had allowed users aged 13 to 35 to exchange their privacy for payment through a Facebook research app on iOS and Android devices, TechCrunch reported. In some advertisements for the app displayed on Instagram and Snapchat, teens were targeted to participate in a paid social media research study, and if they tried to sign up were asked to get their parent’s approval through a Web form.

According to the report, the app could have given Facebook access to a young person’s emails, web browsing activity, instant messages, photos and videos sent to contacts and location data.

acebook told The Washington Post in a statement Wednesday that the nature of the data collecting app was not secret. “It wasn’t 'spying’ as all of the people who signed up to participate went through a clear on-boarding process asking for their permission and were paid to participate,” the company said. Facebook added that less than 5 percent of the users who participated in the research were teens, who signed parental consent forms. But Facebook declined to how say how many young people actually signed up for the app.

Following TechCrunch’s report, Facebook said it is shutting down the app to Apple customers.

Last year, Facebook yanked a data-security app called Onavo from the app store after Apple ruled the app violated its data collection policies. Onavo, which was billed as a virtual private network designed to keep users safe from malicious websites, allowed Facebook to track and analyze users’ activity on their phones, the Wall Street Journal reported, giving the company insight into rival apps and new software offerings.

Facebook did not respond to questions about it is still operating the same app for Android users.

The latest privacy-related issue at Facebook comes on the same day the company will report its quarterly earnings. Last period, the company disclosed slowing user growth, as it loses users in Europe and invests more resources in combating misinformation on the network.