Health insurers criticised for asking members to use Facebook-owned movement tracking app in exchange for perks

Fitness app 'Moves' records users' every movement to encourage exercise

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A health insurance company has been criticised for allegedly encouraging its users to sign up to a Facebook owned app in exchange for keeping a popular membership perk.

British health insurers Vitality offer a number of benefits to members including discounts on fitness equipment, spa treatments, as well as cinema and theatre tickets. It recently emailed its users and asked them to sign up to the app Moves in order to keep receiving free cinema tickets. However, campaigners have criticised the company for allegedly not making the app’s connection to Facebook sufficiently clear and say that the company is unfairly encouraging people to give away personal data in return for benefits.

Facebook acquired the app Moves in 2014. However, Moves’ website and profile on the app store do not state their relationship to the social media company.

The app's privacy policy contains the disclaimer: “We may share information, including personal identifying information, with our affiliates (companies that are part of our corporate groups of companies, including but not limited to Facebook) to help provide, understand and improve our services.”

The app records information about users’ movements in order to encourage fitness and exercise. On its website, the company says of its functions: “Moves automatically records any walking, cycling, and running you do. You can view the distance, duration, steps and calories burned for each activity. The app is always on, so there’s no need to start and stop it. Just keep your phone in your pocket of bag.”

Chief Executive of privacy group Big Brother Watch, Renate Samson, told the BBC: “Whilst the lure of lower insurance premiums and free benefits such as cinema tickets is appealing, the requirement to download an app, provide it with a huge amount of personal data and give it permission to track your every move all day every day will raise concern for some customers.

“It is not at all clear that the app is owned by Facebook and there are no specific details about how the social media company intends to use the data, either now or in the future.

“It is critical that both the app and the insurance company are clear about who has access to their customer data and for what purpose.

“Sharing sensitive information may provide interesting algorithms and big data opportunities but exposes users’ day-to-day habits and personal lifestyles to unwanted scrutiny by unseen and unknown organisations.”

Nick Read, commercial director of Vitality, told The Independent: “We know from our own data and extensive research that physical activity is a catalyst to healthier behaviour in general, and there is substantial evidence that incentives are a way to motivate people into activity. Our members give their consent to their chosen technology provider to pass on their activity data to unlock rewards.

“The member has a direct relationship with the partner or app, and it is at their discretion whether they choose to share their data. Going forward, we will ensure greater clarity is provided around Moves being owned by Facebook and we will make this link even more explicit in our member communication.”

A spokesperson for Facebook told The Independent that it was not aware of any partnership or promotion involving Vitality: "The Moves app runs as a separate, stand-alone application to Facebook, and we have not taken steps to combine information collected through Moves with Facebook profiles. The Moves privacy policy makes it clear that Facebook is an affiliate of the company, just as the Facebook privacy policy lists Moves as being part of our family of apps as well. We share this information in order to provide a better experience for users of our services."