Facebook has admitted to paying young people to install a 'social media research' app which monitors their web activity, according to reports.
The social media giant, who have been harangued for privacy breaches in recent months, recruited people aged from 13-35 to download the app on their devices.
Apple decided to ban the app, formerly known as Onavo VPN, from the app store because it violated its data collection policies.
But according to an investigation by TechCrunch, Facebook has sidestepped the App Store and paying users up to $20 a month, plus referral fees.
Although Facebook told MailOnline that less than five per cent of those recruited were teenagers and insisted that 'it wasn't 'spying' on users.
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Facebook has admitted to paying young people to install a 'social media research' app which monitors their web activity, according to reports. Apple banned the app, formerly known as Onavo VPN, from the app store because it violated its data collection policies
Instead, they have administered it through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound, and uTest.
Shortly after Apple forced its removal from the app store, Facebook started referring to the app as 'Project Atlas' and running ads on Snapchat and Instagram.
These advertisements did not mention Facebook, instead appealing to people to sign up to 'paid social media research study'.
The only mention of Facebook comes when users under the age of 18-years-old attempt to sign-up, as parents are required to fill out a consent form in this instance.
Facebook admitted to TechCrunch that it had been running the program to gather data on usage habits.
The company are said to be 'desperate for data on their competitors' after it has been hit by security breaches which have caused users to abandon the network altogether. The Cambridge Analytica scandal saw the data of 87 million users improperly accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy.
App Store rules stipulate that apps 'should not collect information about which other apps are installed on a user's device,' according to Guardian Mobile Firewall's security expert Will Strafach.
'If Facebook makes full use of the level of access they are given by asking users to install the Certificate, they will have the ability to continuously collect the following types of data: private messages in social media apps, chats from in instant messaging apps – including photos/videos sent to others, emails, web searches, web browsing activity, and even ongoing location information by tapping into the feeds of any location tracking apps you may have installed,' he told TechCrunch.
A company spokesperson defended the project to MailOnline saying 'key facts about the program are being ignored'.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, has been openly critical of Facebook's data collection practices and their 'surveillance practices'. The company are said to be 'desperate for data on their competitors' after various blunders, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, have caused users to abandon the network altogether. Right, Mark Zuckerberg at the senate in April
'Despite early reports, there was nothing 'secret' about this; it was literally called the Facebook Research App,' they said.
'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.
'Finally, less than 5 percent of the people who chose to participate in this market research program were teens. All of them with signed parental consent forms.'
They said that they are ending the program with Apple and that Onavo was removed from the app store in 2018.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been openly critical of Facebook's data collection practices and their 'surveillance practices'.
Mail Online has contacted Apple for comment.
FACEBOOK'S PRIVACY DISASTERS
Facebook in late September disclosed that it had been hit by its worst ever data breach, affecting 50 million users - including those of Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.
Attackers exploited the site's 'View As' feature, which lets people see what their profiles look like to other users.
The unknown attackers took advantage of a feature in the code called 'Access Tokens,' to take over people's accounts, potentially giving hackers access to private messages, photos and posts - although Facebook said there was no evidence that had been done.
The hackers also tried to harvest people's private information, including name, sex and hometown, from Facebook's systems.
Facebook said it doesn't yet know if information from the affected accounts has been misused or accessed, and is working with the FBI to conduct further investigations.
However, Mark Zuckerberg assured users that passwords and credit card information was not accessed.
Facebook says it has found no evidence 'so far' that hackers broke into third-party apps after a data breach exposed 50 million users (stock image)
As a result of the breach, the firm logged roughly 90 million people out of their accounts earlier today as a security measure.
Facebook made headlines earlier this year after the data of 87 million users was improperly accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy.
The disclosure has prompted government inquiries into the company's privacy practices across the world, and fueled a '#deleteFacebook' movement among consumers.
Communications firm Cambridge Analytica had offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as Brazil and Malaysia.
The company boasts it can 'find your voters and move them to action' through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioural psychologists.
'Within the United States alone, we have played a pivotal role in winning presidential races as well as congressional and state elections,' with data on more than 230 million American voters, Cambridge Analytica claims on its website.
The company profited from a feature that meant apps could ask for permission to access your own data as well as the data of all your Facebook friends.
The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (pictured), after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump
This meant the company was able to mine the information of 87 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so.
This was designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box.
The data firm suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after recordings emerged of him making a series of controversial claims, including boasts that Cambridge Analytica had a pivotal role in the election of Donald Trump.
This information is said to have been used to help the Brexit campaign in the UK.
It has also suffered several previous issues.
2013, Facebook disclosed a software flaw that exposed 6 million users' phone numbers and email addresses to unauthorized viewers for a year, while a technical glitch in 2008 revealed confidential birth-dates on 80 million Facebook users' profiles.
https://hienalouca.com/2019/01/30/facebook-is-paying-children-as-young-as-13-to-install-a-social-media-research-app/
Main photo article Facebook has admitted to paying young people to install a ‘social media research’ app which monitors their web activity, according to reports.
The social media giant, who have been harangued for privacy breaches in recent months, recruited people aged from 13-35 to download the app...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/01/30/10/9169656-6647775-Apple_banned_the_app_formerly_known_as_Onavo_VPN_from_the_app_st-a-1_1548844071405.jpg
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