You might never hear of X-Mode Social Company, but its code can be found in some apps on your phone, tracking and telling of your location data. Now, Apple and Google are trying to cease it. According to a Wall Street Journal article, tech companies have warned developers to remove X-Mode's code from their apps.
X-Mode works by providing developers a code to put in their applications, known as SDK, which tracks users' location and then sends the data to X-Mode and they sell it. In return, X-Mode pays the developer a definite amount depending on how many users the app has. As claimed by the company, its technology is in more than 400 apps, including many apps created for Muslim users, Such as reminding users to pray and a Muslim-focused dating app.
Apple is giving developers two months time to remove the SDK, and Google is giving one month, with an ability to apply for an extension of up to 30 weeks. what may have gotten X-Mode banned was that it was selling data to the US military, according to a report by Motherboard.
Of course, government services that buy citizens' location data are nothing new, but mostly they buy from data brokers, who just collect information from various sources, not directly from the companies that store it.
To wrap this up with PSA: companies like X-Mode can only get your location data when allowed. Mainly apps don't specify that your location data is going into X-mode (it's either buried in EULA, or not there at all), but every app on iOS and Android need permission to be able to see your location.
Of course, that won’t secure you in cases where the app has real reason to use your location (like with a dating app), So it's good that both Apple and Google, as well as some legislators, are starting to keep a close eye at how companies sell user data.
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