Facebook pulls security app from Apple store over privacy
Facebook has pulled one of its own products from Apple's app store because it didn't want to stop tracking what people were doing on their iphones. Facebook also banned a quiz app from its social network for possible privacy intrusions on about 4 million users.
The twin developments come as Facebook is under intense scrutiny over privacy following the Cambridge Analytica scandal earlier this year. Allegations that the political consultancy used personal information harvested from 87 million Facebook accounts have dented Facebook's reputation.
Since the scandal broke, Facebook has investigated thousands of apps and suspended more than 400 of them over data-sharing concerns.
The social media company said late Wednesday that it took action against the mypersonality quiz app, saying that its creators refused an inspection. But even as Facebook did that, it found its own Onavo Protect security app at odds with Apple's tighter rules for applications.
Onavo Protect is a virtual-private network service aimed at helping users secure their personal information over public Wi-fi networks. The app also alerts users when other apps use too much data.
Since acquiring Onavo in 2013, Facebook has used it to track what apps people were using on phones. This surveillance helped Facebook detect trendy services, tipping off the company to startups it might want to buy and areas it might want to work on for upcoming features.
Facebook said in a statement that it has "always been clear when people download Onavo about the information that is collected and how it is used."
But Onavo fell out of compliance with Apple's app-store guidelines after they were tightened two months ago to protect the reservoir of personal information that people keep on their iphones and ipads.
Apple's revised guidelines require apps to get users' express consent before recording and logging their activity on a device. According to Apple, the new rules also "made it explicitly clear that apps should not collect information about which other apps are installed on a user's device for the purposes of analytics or advertising/marketing."
Facebook will still be able to deploy Onavo on devices powered by Google's Android software.
Onavo's ouster from Apple's app store widens the rift between two of the world's most popular companies.