FB sues South Korean analytics company Rankwave over use of data for marketing

Facebook has launched a lawsuit against Rankwave over its data practices in providing advertising and marketing services, after the South Korean analytics company failed to comply with its requests for proof of Facebook policy compliance and an audit.According to the court filing leaked by TechCrunch, since 2014, Rankwave is believed to have used Facebook Pages data associated with its apps to provide consulting services to advertising and marketing companies instead of “only using data associated with its apps to enhance the app experience”. This is prohibited under Facebook’s policies. The filing also revealed that Rankwave operated at least thirty apps on the Facebook between 2010 and 2019.Facebook, which has already suspended apps and accounts associated with Rankwave, said on its newsroom that that it seeks the court’s help to enforce “the basic cooperation terms that Rankwave agreed to in exchange for the opportunity to operate apps on the platform”. It added,We are sending a message to developers that Facebook is serious about enforcing our policies, including requiring developers to cooperate with us during an investigation.Additionally, Facebook is seeking damages as well, said the lawsuit filed in California state court.Rankwave developed different kinds of apps businesses-to-business apps installed and used by businesses to track and analyse activity on their Facebook Pages. Facebook Pages data commonly includes public comments and likes on Facebook Pages.Rankwave also operated a consumer app named the Rankwave App that was designed to measure the app user’s popularity on Facebook by analysing the level of interaction that other users had with the app user’s Facebook. However, it has stopped working since March 2018.Read more:Facebook tells co-founder: ‘Accountability not enforced by breaking up company’Facebook promotes Groups feature in global brand campaignFacebook unveils dating feature for Singapore and Malaysia marketsFacebook looks to get into voice assistant marketMore than 540 million Facebook records exposed once again