Privacy Labels For Majority Top Apps In Google Play Store False Or Misleading: Mozilla

A Mozilla study has revealed that nearly 80 per cent of the app labels reviewed were false or misleading.

Mozilla found that the labels were false or misleading based on discrepancies between the apps’ privacy policies and the information apps self-reported on Google’s Data Safety Form. Researchers concluded that the system fails to help consumers make more informed choices about their privacy before purchasing or downloading one of the store’s 2.7 million apps.

“Google Play Store's Data Safety labels would have you believe that neither TikTok nor Twitter share your personal data with third parties. The apps' privacy policies, however, both explicitly state that they share user information with advertisers, Internet service providers, platforms, and numerous other types of companies,” mentioned Mozilla on its blog.

The Mozilla study uncovered some serious loopholes in the Data Safety Form, which make it easy for apps to provide false or misleading information. “For example, Google exempts apps sharing data with ‘service providers’ from its disclosure requirements, which is problematic due to both the narrow definition it uses for service providers and the large amount of consumer data involved. Google absolves itself of the responsibility to verify whether the information is true stating that apps ‘are responsible for making complete and accurate declarations’ in their Data Safety labels,” said the blog.

The study assigned apps a rating of “Poor,” “Needs Improvement,” or “OK”. Apps that received a “Poor” score had major discrepancies on their Data Safety Forms in terms of types of data shared or collected, or the purposes for which the data was shared or collected. Apps that earned an “OK” score had privacy policies that were closely aligned with their disclosures on the Data Safety Form, and apps that were graded with “Needs Improvement” fell somewhere in the middle.

Findings from the study:

• 16 out of 40 apps, or 40 per cent, received a “Poor” grade, including Minecraft, Twitter, and Facebook.
• 15 apps, or 37.5 per cent, received a middle grade, “Needs Improvement,” including YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, WhatsApp Messenger, and Instagram.
• Just 6 of the 40 apps, or 15 per cent, received an “OK” grade. These apps were: Candy Crush Saga, Google Play Games, Subway Surfers, Stickman Legends Offline Games, Power Amp Full Version Unlocker, and League of Stickman: 2020 Ninja.
• 3 apps, UC Browser - Safe, Fast, Private; League of Stickman Acti; and Terraria did not fill out the form at all

“Consumers care about privacy and want to make smart decisions when they download apps. Google's Data Safety labels are supposed to help them do that. Unfortunately, they don't. Instead, I'm worried they do more harm than good,” said Jen Caltrider, Project Lead, Mozilla.