FTC reaches its first settlement with a data broker over the collection and sale of raw location data

X-Mode Social and Outlogic settled with the FTC over selling precise location data, violating privacy. The settlement mandates data deletion, enhances consent measures, and introduces safeguards against potential misuse.
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Data broker X-Mode Social and its successor Outlogic have settled with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following FTC finding that the company sold precise location data that could be used to track people’s visits to sensitive locations, including medical and reproductive clinics, among others.

In May 2023, the FTC filed a complaint against X-Mode/Outlogic, accusing it of selling consumer data locations to hundreds of clients in industries from real estate to finance and private government contractors. The raw location data the company has sold is associated with mobile advertising IDs, which are not anonymous and can match a consumer’s device with the locations they visited.

FTC found that such actions where the data broker collected, sold, and shared information without permission violated consumer privacy rights and exposed consumers to potential discrimination, violence, and other harm.
As part of the settlement, X-Mode/ Outlogic will have to, among others,

  • Delete or destroy location data collected from consumers without their consent,
  • Enforce measures preventing linking location data to LGBTQ+ spaces, political events, protests, or identifying specific individuals in location-based services and
  • Enable users to easily revoke consent for location data collection and delete any previously collected data.

Why does it matter?

This settlement could not only guarantee privacy protection, but it could also shield women and vulnerable groups from targeting and arbitrary detentions. Following the 2022 US Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion in Roe vs Wade, reproductive rights have been targeted. Third parties, such as anti-abortion groups, could collect raw location data from period tracking apps as potential evidence of crime in states where abortion is criminalised.

With X-Mode/Outlogic gathering data on individuals visiting reproductive clinics, this decision could ensure protection for those seeking abortion. Following the Biden executive order in 2022 to provide privacy protection for individuals seeking an abortion, the FTC settlement is the first-ever ban on the use and sale of sensitive location data, as FTC Chair Lina M. Khan says.