According to the reports that we got from our sources, Apple is increasing the restrictions the rules of its App Store in a bid to protect users from developers who are after user data for themselves or for sale to third parties. Before this time, it was found that developers would require users to provide their contacts and then sell this data without seeking the consent of the users or their contacts.
The changes that were made to the rules regarding the App Store were made just last week. The rules precisely state that developers have now been stopped from turning address books into a database for various contacts and also from selling that database. They can’t also turn data into user profiles. Although, developers will still be able to ask users to provide contact lists for use within their app, but, the catch is that the developers will have to inform the users what they intend to do with the user data provided. If it turns out that they have a common purpose, they will need to ask the users for further permission.
Facebook had previously faced a serious controversial scandal with Cambridge Analytica in March this year for having allowed a third-party developer to obtain user data of more than 87 million individuals. The timing with which Apple has placed this restrictive rules in the App Store appears as if the company is seeking to stop the same issue of data misuse by developers from occurring. The only problem is that the company cannot help the data that has already been collected and probably sold before these rules were placed. More so, even though Apple can remove apps designed by developers who go against the rules that have been set, the company does not have complete control of what the developers will decide to do with the data as soon as they’re collected from the users which so happens to be the same issue that Facebook had to face.