OK, I get it, social media is a place to be social and interact with your friends and family as if they were right in front of you. Part of many people’s face to face interactions include playing games together, so it makes sense that sharing a Facebook quiz would be a normal thing to do. “Check it out, I just took this Facebook quiz and here are my results, you can take it too and we can compare!” Problem is, many of these games and quizzes are a data miners pot of gold and one company is at the end of the rainbow. Vonvon.me is a name you’ve probably never heard but you have probably seen their Facebook Quiz come across your feed.
“Most Used Words” is one of the most popular Facebook Quizzes going around and Vonvon.me is the company behind that quiz. The problem with that quiz is the permissions you’re giving to Vonvon.me and the company’s privacy policy, which you likely didn’t read. 16 million users have used this Facebook quiz and that’s 16 million users who’s data Vonvon.me now essentially owns. Here’s a rundown of the permissions Vonvon.me asks for when you click to take their quiz.
- Name, profile picture, age, sex, birthday, and other public info
- Entire friend list
- Everything you’ve ever posted on your timeline
- All of your photos and photos you’re tagged in
- Education history
- Hometown and current city
- Everything you’ve ever liked
- IP address
- Info about the device you’re using including browser and language
So after you’ve not read the permissions you’ve likely skipped over the privacy policy as well which Comparitech has broken into some key excerpts. Basically it says even if you stop using their app or even Facebook, you’re giving up rights to your data. The policy also says your data can be stored on any server around the world, including in countries with lax privacy laws. They also go on to say they won’t share that information with third parties unless they give you notice, oh by the way, this privacy policy is your notice. Basically you’ve given Vonvon.me full access to anything you’ve done on Facebook.
[…] you acknowledge and agree that We may continue to use any non-personally-identifying information in accordance with this Privacy Policy (e.g., for the purpose of analysis, statistics and the like) also after the termination of your membership to this WebSite and\or use of our services, for any reason whatsoever.Vonvon processes Personal Information on its servers in many countries around the world. Such information may be stored on any of our servers, at any location.
[…] We do not share your Personal Information with third parties unless We have received your permission to do so, or given you notice thereof (such as by telling you about it in this Privacy Policy) […] […] this Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of entities Vonvon does not own or control, or to individuals whom Vonvon does not employ or manage, including any third parties to whom Vonvon may disclose Personal Information […]
“Most Used Words” isn’t the only Facebook quiz or game that does this but Vonvon.me’s quiz has been taken by 16 million users and that’s a significant chunk. Social media is ripe for data miners to take advantage of people looking to, well, just be social. For the most part people’s guards drop when they get wrapped up in the moment and click their data away. The absolute best way to avoid this is to just not click. But you should be aware that if you do click, you could be clicking your privacy away.
[button link=”https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/that-most-used-words-facebook-quiz-is-a-privacy-nightmare/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Comparitech[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
