Pointed out that most popular apps lie about handling user data
According to a survey by Mozilla, the developer of Firefox, many of the top apps on Google Play, the official app store for Android, explain how user data is handled on the app distribution page.
Mozilla Foundation - Mozilla Study: Data Privacy Labels for Most Top Apps in Google Play Store are False or Misleading
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/mozilla-study-data-privacy-labels-for-most-top-apps-in-google-play-store-are-false-or-misleading/
Mozilla Foundation - See No Evil: Loopholes in Google's Data Safety Labels Keep Companies in the Clear and Consumers in the Dark
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/googles-data-safety-labels/
Mozilla says “most top apps” on Android have misleading privacy labels | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/mozilla-says-most-top-apps-on-android-have-misleading-privacy-labels/
Google Play, the official app store for Android, has a 'data safety section' on each app's distribution page, which briefly explains how user data is handled. For example, in the case of the TikTok application distributed on Google Play, there is an item called 'data safety' in the middle of the screen, and information on the handling of user data is described here.
TikTok - Apps on Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/games
Even though this data safety section states that 'no data is shared with third parties,' the app's privacy policy states that it 'shares user information with advertisers, internet service providers, platforms, and other companies.' Mozilla reports that the specified cases were frequently confirmed.
Mozilla explains that this is a 'malicious case' that was revealed as part of investigating whether Google Play's data safety section has accurate information. Nearly 80% of apps reviewed by Mozilla have conflicting content in their data safety section and privacy policy. Therefore, Mozilla points out that Google Play's data safety section is 'false or misleading.'
Mozilla points out that there is a serious loophole in Google Play's input form that causes false or misleading information to be displayed in the data safety section. For example, Google exempts apps that share data with 'service providers' from disclosure requirements, which is problematic both because of the narrow definition of service providers and because they contain large amounts of consumer data. points out Mozilla. Google states that the app is ``responsible to make a complete and accurate declaration'' in the data safety section, but since the actual information is full of falsehoods, ``we waive the responsibility to check whether the information is true. There is,' he criticized.
Mozilla investigated a total of 40 top 20 free apps and top 20 paid apps on Google Play. We compare the data safety sections and privacy policies of these apps and give each app three labels: bad, needs improvement, and good. Apps labeled as 'bad' had significant differences between the data safety section and the privacy policy, such as the type of data shared/collected and the purpose for which the data was shared/collected. Apps labeled 'good' are closely aligned in the data safety section and privacy policy, while apps labeled 'needs improvement' are 'bad' and 'good'. It was located in the middle of
16 out of 40 (40%) apps were labeled as 'bad', including Minecraft, Twitter and Facebook. Fifteen out of 40 (37.5%) apps are labeled 'needs improvement', including YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, WhatsApp Messenger, and Instagram. 6 out of 40 (15%) apps labeled 'OK' are Candy Crush Saga, Google Play Games, Subway Surfers, Stickman Legends Offline Games, Power Amp Full Version Unlocker, League of Stickman 2020- Ninja. The three apps UC Browser, League of Stickman Acti, and Terraria are not listed in the data safety section.
“Consumers care about their privacy and want to make smart decisions when downloading apps,” said Jen Caltrider, project lead at Mozilla. It should be useful information.But unfortunately it doesn't work that way.Instead I'm afraid they do more harm than good.Apps like Twitter and TikTok are data safety I wrote in the section that 'we do not share data with third parties', but that is not entirely true, so I am angry. Consumers should be treated better.'
In addition, Apple's App Store also operates a system that describes how to handle data called a similar `` privacy label '', but Caltrider points out that this privacy label has the same problem. Therefore, Caltrider recommends 'adopting a common, standardized rating system' for Google Play's data safety section and Apple's privacy label.
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