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Facebook Has Asked Large US Banks To Share Detailed Financial Information About Customers as it Seeks To Boost User Engagement [Update] (wsj.com)
Facebook wants your financial data. The social media giant has asked large U.S. banks to share detailed financial information about their customers, including card transactions and checking account balances, as part of an effort to offer new services to users, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. From the report: Facebook increasingly wants to be a platform where people buy and sell goods and services, besides connecting with friends. The company over the past year asked JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp USB to discuss potential offerings it could host for bank customers on Facebook Messenger, said people familiar with the matter. Facebook has talked about a feature that would show its users their checking-account balances, the people said. It has also pitched fraud alerts, some of the people said. Data privacy is a sticking point in the banks' conversations with Facebook, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are taking place as Facebook faces several investigations over its ties to political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which accessed data on as many 87 million Facebook users without their consent. Update: Shares of Facebook surged nearly 3% following the report. A paywall free, alternative source of this story.
Update 2 (18:10 GMT): Talking to TechCrunch, Facebook has, in part, denied WSJ's report. TechCrunch: Facebook spokesperson Elisabeth Diana tells TechCrunch it's not asking for credit card transaction data from banks and it's not interested in building a dedicated banking feature where you could interact with your accounts. It also says its work with banks isn't to gather data to power ad targeting, or even personalize content such as what Marketplace products you see based on what you buy elsewhere.
Update 2 (18:10 GMT): Talking to TechCrunch, Facebook has, in part, denied WSJ's report. TechCrunch: Facebook spokesperson Elisabeth Diana tells TechCrunch it's not asking for credit card transaction data from banks and it's not interested in building a dedicated banking feature where you could interact with your accounts. It also says its work with banks isn't to gather data to power ad targeting, or even personalize content such as what Marketplace products you see based on what you buy elsewhere.
Seems like a good way for fraud to happen or for debt collectors to bully your Facebook friends.
This is breaking news and a WSJ scoop. When the story hit Slashdot, nobody else had a rewrite. So they had little to no choice to link back to someone else. Besides, Slashdot readers know how to bypass a paywall. I mean, c'mon.
..."Privacy Rapists" - seems more accurate as the days go by.
AC comments get piped to
Update: Shares of Facebook surged nearly 3% following the report. A paywall free, alternative source of this story.
Wait a minute...
Shares of Facebook surged nearly 3% following the report.
WTF is wrong with people?????
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Investors often don't give a single shit how moral/ethical/just plain evil a company's plan is as long as it is legal. Remember, the almighty dollars rules many at the top. I personally avoid investments in any of the companies engaging in such activities, but I am by far in the minority...
Why not European banks? Oh, that is right, because they have socialist laws for the people by the people that prevent it.
Poor European companies.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Nobody BUT MY BANK should have MY BANKING INFO.
PERIOD!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!