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Folks who think life is easier in 2019 need to understand something — we have a whole different set of problems to deal with these days. You know those handy period tracker apps on your phone that let you know when your time of the month is likely to visit? Well, apparently a couple of those apps may have been sharing “sensitive” information with — wait for it – Facebook. According to new reports, two of these highly popular apps put your business OUT there… from data about your sex life to info about your masturbation habits. Yep.

From People:

Period tracking apps have allegedly shared their users’ personal data — about everything from the last time they had sex or masturbated to the type of birth control they use — with Facebook, according to a new report.An investigation by Privacy International, a U.K.-based watchdog non-profit, found that two popular apps boasting millions of users, Maya and MIA Fem, conducted “extensive sharing of sensitive personal data with third parties, including Facebook.” At least one of the apps reports that it has since corrected the issue. Within the apps, users input information like the start of their last menstrual cycle, any symptoms like cramping, and when they have sex, in order to track their periods and ovulation. According to Privacy International’s report, the apps were then sending that information to Facebook through the social media company’s Software Development Kit, a Facebook-created program to help app developers update their product, track usage and set up advertising. Privacy International found that Maya and MIA Fem were immediately sharing information about users before they agreed to a privacy policy, regardless of whether or not the user had a Facebook account. 

Woah! Maya has reportedly already fixed the issue, with a rep for the app stating via People: “Maya does not sell data to Facebook or ANY third party. We have in the past used tools from Facebook, strictly to improve our product experience. We have proactively removed these tools from all versions of the app due to concerns about privacy.” People continues:

MIA Fem had responded to Privacy International ahead of the release of their report, but requested that their response not be shared publicly. Privacy International did not say if MIA Fem had resolved the privacy issues. In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Facebook said that it is against their policy for apps to share personal data. “Our terms of service prohibit developers from sending us sensitive health information and we enforce against them when we learn they are,” Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesperson said. “In addition, ad targeting based on people’s interests does not leverage information gleaned from people’s activity across other apps or websites.”

As we already know, Mark Zuckerberg has been dealing with some extreme Facebook user privacy issues, from being hacked to sharing user info willingly. So, reports like these are just the icing on the cake. Thoughts?

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