Voters who download campaign apps are sharing a lot of personal information with their candidate’s election team, according to a new report by the MIT Technology Review.
The report raises concerns about privacy, security and the spread of misinformation.
Analysts reviewed campaign apps for both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. The results indicate that both apps are collecting “massive amounts of user data.”
It found Trump’s app accesses more personal data than Biden’s app.
"The Official Trump 2020" app asks new users to provide their cell phone number, full name, email address and zip code. It also asks for permission to access the user’s calendar, contacts, call history, location and Bluetooth.
Biden’s "Team Joe" app requested access to less information than Trump’s app, according to the report.
The report states that Team Joe did encourage users to contact people they know to convince them to vote for Biden via access to their contact lists.
The report states the apps also allow candidates to send messages directly to voters without “needing to rely on major social-media platforms or expose themselves to fact-checker oversight of particularly divisive or deceptive messaging."
Trump's app features "News" and "Social" tabs that feature curated Twitter feeds and articles that Trump's team wants voters to read.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.