Android App Misleading Privacy Policies

 

Migliaccio & Rathod, LLP, is investigating various Android applications for advertising their privacy policies.  Recently, Android launched “Data Safety Labels,” a feature that supposedly allows app developers to release easy-to-read, transparent summaries of their privacy policies. But according to Mozilla, the nonprofit behind Firefox, most top apps on the Android app have completely misleading “Data Safety Labels.”  Apps such as TikTok and Twitter claim, in their labels, to not share user data with third parties. However, the official Privacy Policies of these apps explicitly reserve the right to share user data with third parties.

Just as nutrition labels inform consumers about how to eat healthier, data safety labels should inform consumers about how to protect their privacy.  But if app developers create intentionally misleading labels, consumers who rely on those labels will be deceived into revealing more of their data than they otherwise would. Some of the apps that have received a “poor” score from Mozilla in this way include Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Facebook Lite, and Twitter.

Have you used these apps on your Android device?

If so, we would like to hear from you.  Please complete the contact form on this page, send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call at (202) 470-3520. The lawyers at Migliaccio & Rathod LLP have years of experience in class action litigation against large corporations, including in cases involving data breaches such as this. More information about our current cases and investigations is available on our blog.