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Right after BeReal was acquired by the French mobile game publisher Voodoo This summer, the candid selfie-sharing app, which has been hugely popular among Gen Z, changed the way it asks users to consent to tracking. The resulting pop-up has now become the target of a privacy complaint in Europe. Confirmed violations of the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can result in penalties of up to 4% of global annual sales volume.
European privacy rights non-profit noyb lags behind Complaintwhich accuses BeReal of using manipulative tactics (also called “dark patterns”) to try to pressure users to consent to ad tracking — which goes against the GDPR standard that consent “must be freely given.”
Since July 2024, noyb says European BeReal users have been provided with a consent logo that appears to provide a convenient accept/decline option to consent or deny tracking. However, her complaint addresses what is happening after Users react to the banner – because it does not provide an equal experience, hence the claim that it is unfair (and possibly illegal).
BeReal deploys an aggressive “incentive tactic” to harass users who refuse to track it, according to noyb’s complaint. The banner appears again every day when they try to share a post. While users who consent to the tracking are left in peace without seeing the pop-up again.
“This is a prime example of a so-called dark pattern, designed to manipulate users’ decision-making and inconvenience them to force them to agree,” Noebe says in his article. press release Details of the complaint. “In general, BeReal seems unable to take ‘no’ when it comes to Europeans’ right to privacy.”
Lisa Steinfeld, a data protection lawyer at noyb, added in a statement: “BeReal’s nudge tactics are particularly ridiculous. When users first encounter the consent banner, they are under the impression that the app already respects their choice — only to discover that BeReal will in fact not consent.” “No” as an answer “Clearly, BeReal is trying to pressure users to agree to tracking.”
To support her assertion, the tactic is not GDPR compliant, notes Noib Directives 2022 Concerning dark modes in social media interfaces, drafted by the European Data Protection Board, warns against “constant prodding” methods that repeatedly ask users for consent – saying a dark mode is more likely to lead to them “giving up because they feel weary of having to refuse the request.” Every time they use the platform.”
“The GDPR makes clear that consent is only valid if it is freely given,” Steinfeld added. “Unfortunately, BeReal doesn’t seem to care and prefers to pressure people into giving consent even if they don’t want to be tracked.”
noyb filed a complaint against BeReal with CNIL, the French data protection watchdog (the app’s parent company, Voodoo, is based in France). It asks the regulator to order the app to fix its consent flow so that it adheres to the GDPR standard of freely given choice and to delete any data processed since dark mode was implemented. The CNIL is also urging a fine.
Voodoo has been contacted to respond to BeReal’s complaint.
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