Facebook’s Onavo To Be Removed From App Store Due To Privacy Issues
Talk about roadblocks! Facebook has faced many roadblocks, and now it is time to face another one. Facebook has repeatedly breached privacy guidelines, and the company has grown into being a headache regarding that. The company has now run into another one, and this time it is far more personal.
The Apple app store has removed Onavo, a Facebook-owned app as it has reportedly violated the store’s policies. An Apple spokesperson explained why such a strong decision had to be made. According to the spokesperson, Apple takes guidelines seriously, and also checks on apps to see if rules are followed to date.
Another thing they want to be sure about is to check up if apps use unwanted user data for their own purposes like advertising or marketing. And being Facebook, Onavo was doing just that. Onavo was bought by Facebook in 2013, and the app is pretty simple. The app acts like a VPN and claims to keep your data safe. The app also blocks harmful websites and does its best in securing personal information.
Misuse of Privacy
But though the app was promising privacy, the app was doing the right opposite. The app was pumping a lot of data to its parent company, Facebook. It gave Facebook a bird’s eye view into mobile trends and to figure out the trending apps, and the apps that are slowly disappearing. This gives Facebook an lead on apps that are trending, and to figure out why are they so popular and mimic them.
But this does not mean that the app was completely incognito in stealing user data and sharing it to Facebook. The app’s description mentioned that being part of Facebook, the app would use data to improve Facebook’s products and services that would lead to Facebook building better experiences for its users.
Regain Trust
The Onavo app has been downloaded more than 33 million times across both iOS and Facebook, and so there is a considerable amount of data that Facebook could tap into. At present, the app is not showing up in searches, but the app would soon be deleted from the store. In Google’s Play Store, the app is alive and kicking, but Google is also expected to make the same move to protect user privacy.
Facebook has repeatedly been crossing borders, and that has been raising eyebrows for many for a while. Facebook now needs to step up its game and stop using user data and start from scratch to get the user’s trust again. If Facebook keeps on breaking barriers, then soon the world would have another social network to rely on and not Facebook.
