happn Among Apps Found Misusing User Data For Facebook Adverts

An investigation into advertising on Facebook has shown that dating app happn is among a number of companies that have misused data. 

In October 2019, Privacy International, a UK-based privacy charity, began an investigation into the advertisers that upload their customers’ personal data to Facebook.

The researchers explained that once they saw how limited, and often inaccurate, the information provided by Facebook was they knew something was wrong.

Seven team members sent subject access requests to companies to obtain personal data that had apparently been uploaded to Facebook, which included their unique identifiers.

Each one found a few brands or advertisers they had never heard of, which were not mentioned in the information downloaded from Facebook directly.

Privacy International wrote in its final report: “It highlights not only how little users can understand about what’s happening behind the scenes, when it comes to online targeted advertising, but also exposes unlawful practices.

“Again and again, there was no transparency or legal justification as to the uploading and use of this data. And that’s just the start.”

Read the full report here.