Singapore's Muslim Pro denies selling user data to US military, launches probe

BITSMEDIA, the Singapore-based developer of the religious app Muslim Pro, has denied selling its users' personal data to the US military.

On Monday, US news outlet Vice said in a report that the US military is buying "granular movement data" of individuals globally, harvested from apps. It cited Muslim Pro, which claims to have 98 million downloads worldwide, as one such app.

Founded in 2010, the app features Muslim religious texts and prayer schedules. In its report, Vice said that user data from Muslim Pro was sold to X-Mode, a US-based data broker whose customers allegedly include US military defence contractors.

The data transferred from Muslim Pro to X-Mode allegedly includes location details, the name of the Wifi network users' phones are on, a timestamp, and information about the phone such as its model.

Bitsmedia did not respond specifically to queries from The Business Times about whether it had sold user data to X-Mode. However, in a statement on its Web site on Tuesday evening, the company said that allegations that it has sold user data to the US military are "incorrect and untrue".

"Regardless, we have decided to terminate our relationships with all data partners, including X-Mode, effective immediately," the company said.

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It added: "Since we were made aware of the situation, we have launched an internal investigation and are reviewing our data governance policy to confirm that all user data was handled in line with all existing requirements."

When checked by BT on Tuesday evening, Muslim Pro's online privacy policy did not cite X-Mode, but stated that Bitsmedia works with location-data firm Quadrant "to collect and share precise location information", and that other data points include device type and IP address. On its Website as of Tuesday evening, Quadrant listed X-Mode as a "trusted partner".

Bitsmedia apologised to users for "the concern that these (media) reports have caused them" and said that its users' data is secure.

"Muslim Pro is committed to protecting and securing our users' privacy. This is a matter we take very seriously. We apply industry-standard security arrangements and protective measures and select leading technology partners to keep our data safe and secure on our cloud infrastructure," the company said in its statement.