Under the GDPR even the IP address is considered personal data which makes shenanigans like these non-compliant without explicit & informed consent.
The only way they could do the advertising opt-out thing in a compliant way (as per their current privacy policy) is to submit the advertising ID to the backend and do the request to Facebook from there to avoid leaking the IP and any other device data the FB SDK automatically submits.
Those tweets make it sound like Monzo have no idea whatâs going on. Why would this be disabled for some customers but not others?
Iâm keen to hear an explanation from someone at Monzo who actually knows whatâs going on. Ultimately Iâm not too worried about whatâs being shared with Facebook, but the fact that theyâve told us here that they wonât send app data to Facebook yet still seem to be doing so (for certain users) really doesnât sit right with me.
Iâve come here to post something similar, but about TransferWise.
I recently went into the Monzo app to do an international transfer. After seeing the fees, I decided not to do a transfer. To be clear, I did little more than navigate to the transfer page within the app.
Looking at my Facebook data shows that TransferWise has now linked my data. The only interaction Iâve ever had with this company was viewing the transfer page within the Monzo app.
I find this really disturbing. I want to give Monzo the benefit of the doubt, but Iâd not even heard of this company before I saw their name within the Monzo app. Now there is a possibility that they have a marker for me from the Monzo app. If this is the case, I find this utterly unacceptable - certainly as I have no idea what data TransferWise holds about me now.
I welcome any information and clarification of this.
Iâve actually signed up just to echo Meltonâs point above. I have not used facebook for 3-4 years, and only have an account because everyone I know contacts people via Messenger. However, having seen the tool on HN today I logged in for the first time in a couple of years, and saw that Facebook has off-site info from Monzo, which Iâm really surprised and disappointed by. I donât see any legitimate reason for this; I know that app developers often take the easy road out by using tools provided by FB and Google - and indeed those tools are provided for both empires to easily expand their data collection activities, but I think this needs to be disclosed fully, and preferably stopped (even if only optionally).
Monzoâs reputation has just taken a serious dent in my opinion.
@simonb Maybe time for a blog post on exactly what data is shared, and more importantly why? Being totally open and transparent in it. Also why it appears you are ignoring GDPR. It is cropping up in a few threads
I have heard back from CS regarding my query to delete my account and theyâve again assured me that only the advertising ID was shared, which is clearly false. Seems like even their GDPR point of contact (the privacy policy mentions contacting support for privacy enquiries instead of a dedicated DPO contact) has no clue whatâs going on.
Monzo have an in house lawyer with the title of âprivacy counselâ , they must be getting lots of GDPR complaints 
Nothing for me from the iOS app or otherwise.
Iâm keen to hear an explanation from someone at Monzo who actually knows whatâs going on.
Agreed and totally fair. This is just a quick note to recognise all of the questions here â weâll answer them properly next week. With it being Friday, a couple of people are away/caught up in other things and we want to make sure we give you useful and correct answers to everything here.
Any update on this please as itâs been 6 days now and you said youâd give a proper response ânext weekâ
Donât forget that you can reset your advertising Id on your phone and tablets.
On my Android, itâs the services tab in Settings and you can both reset your advertising id and opt out of ad personalisation.
Probably a good idea to reset the advertising Id every few months.
I canât speak for everyone else here but personally I have no issue if itâs going to take a few extra days for someone to get back to us, but I think weâd all appreciate an update saying so rather than being kept in the dark 
Yeah it wonât make a difference to wait a few more days, but it shows how urgent itâs being treated.
Hi all,
Really sorry for the delay. This has turned out to be more complicated than I expected, hence the delay 
Weâve been doing a full audit of the apps on both iOS and Android and have found a few things during this (some related, some not!) which have also needed investigation.
So, we need a few more days â sorry 
Weâre hoping to finalise a few last details over the weekend, so should be fine to share early next week.
That doesnât sound reassuring
Itâs just v complex. Weâve made a few improvements already that I think youâll be happy with 
Itâs great that youâre being thorough and I look forward to reading the write-up next week 
Looking forward to this update. Frankly, Iâd like to see Facebook gone from the app completely.
Marketers got along fine for decades without knowing the exact conversion-per-impression rate for every ad they ran.
My feelings are the same for Google, but appreciate the complexities of building a cross platform app that includes Android make that a different question.
I donât think it should be removed completely. Iâm saying this both as someone who understands how powerful their advertising platform is and as someone who is an investor in the bank and wants to see Monzo do as well as possible whilst also respecting peopleâs privacy and being GDPR compliant.
I think Monzoâs intended implementation if it actually worked that way was fantastic. Just having that initial trigger during sign-up gives you the conversion data, and means youâre not wasting money advertising to people who already have accounts and also means that you can target those who do already have accounts with ads for new features like Plus when it eventually relaunches.
What I donât think should be happening is the constant reporting back to the mother ship that seems to be happening on some peopleâs accounts. The ideal situation for me would be Facebook knowing I have an account but knowing nothing about how or when I use that account or literally anything else about my account.
Of course marketers survived without the data, but as soon as you take it away the cost per sign up shoots right up.
