Facebook was convicted of buying user data. Apple severely punished the social network for violating the rules of her app store

2018 was one of the most difficult Facebook in the history of the social network - Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly been in the center of scandals related to user data leaks. It seems that this black strip did not end with the onset of 2019.

On January 30, TechCrunch reported that Facebook paid for several years to users of the Facebook Research application aged 13 to 37 years of $ 20 a month. This program gained full access to data on user smartphones, including location information, installed applications, search history, as well as photos and videos. In addition, the program had access to information from user profiles in social networks: names, email addresses, phone numbers and other sources.

Journalists also found out that the Facebook Research application contains a significant part of the Onavo VPN-client code, which allows you to get information about network traffic. Earlier, the social network was accused of monitoring users due to the fact that Onavo collects almost all the data about the user of the smartphone. After that, the application was removed from the App Store for violation of the new store rules, reminds TJ .

After the publication of the material, journalists and users sharply criticized Facebook for the purchase of data, and many called the Facebook Research of the Spy program. Also, some considered the amount of $ 20 too modest for user data. In response to Facebook, she said that the company did not transmit the information collected to third parties, and there was nothing secret in the application. Nevertheless, the company disconnected access to the Facebook Research in the App Store, but saved it on Google Play, where softer rules apply.

They have long been accustomed to criticism on Facebook, but she was not limited to business. So, Apple, after publishing an article in TechCrunch, withdrew the Facebook corporate certificate, which allowed the appendices bypassing the App Store moderation and distributing them to the link. Due to the availability of such a certificate, the Facebook Research application did not go moderation in the App Store and received the functions that violate the Apple rules.

The Apple solution does not mean that the main application of the social network will now be removed from the App Store, but Facebook has lost the opportunity to distribute the iOS applications outside the App Store and for its employees. The certificate was withdrawn much faster than Facebook closed access to its application in the App Store, and the consequences of this unprecedented Apple step against such a large company were immediately felt by Facebook employees, on which the companies stopped working for IOS, including future versions of the Facebook or Facebook applications. Instagram. In addition, the internal applications of the company to coordinate work and other tasks stopped working. According toTechCrunch , this turned into a “chaos” on Facebook, violating the usual operating mode of employees.

Facebook will be checked for gdpr violations

The scandal threatens Facebook with new fines. So, the Ireland Commission on data protection demanded that the company provide information about what data is collected through Facebook Research. The department does not exclude that the social network violated the requirements of the general regulations of the European Union (GDPR) regarding the Rules for collecting these minor users.

The GDPR indicates that companies are required to aware of children about the consequences and risks of collecting information information with an understandable language for them. If the regulator confirms that the social network violated the requirements of the regulations, it faces a fine.

A similar application was found in Google

Facebook was not the only company collecting user data, violating the App Store rules - journalists found out that a similar application called Screenwise Meter is also Google. In her research, users aged 18 years, as well as families with children over 13 years old, could participate. At the same time, the company provided users with more information about the collection and use of their data, and the program provided for disabling traffic monitoring.

Unlike Facebook, Google quickly stopped working Screenwise Meter for iOS devices and recognized the violation of the App Store rules. So far, Apple has not subjected Google the same punishment as Facebook received.