Muslim Prayer App Accused of Selling User Data to US Military Contractors

The media claims that the US military has purchased data from Muslim Pro through one of its data brokers. According to the investigation, Muslim Pro sells location data to a third-party broker called X-Mode, which then transfers it to defense contractors. In turn, they provide it to the Department of Defense. Contacted by Business Insider, representatives of Muslim Pro and X-Mode, as well as the Pentagon, have not yet responded. In a statement to Motherboard, X-Mode suggests that the data exchanged with military contractors is "primarily intended for three uses: counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and locating future COVID-19 hotspots."

The investigation "highlights the opacity of the location data industry and the fact that the US military, which has already sadly used location data to target drone strikes, is buying access to sensitive data." "Many users of the apps involved in the data supply chain are Muslim, which is not insignificant as the United States (...) has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in military operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq," Motherboard notes.

Privacy advocates take a dim view of this practice. On Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) strongly condemned the US government’s use of personal data from Islamic apps "to target the Muslim community here and abroad." It demands that the US Congress open a "thorough public investigation." For their part, the data companies and their partners claim that the movements of people were anonymized and not directly linked to their identity. Except that some studies show that anonymity could be easily removed and that the information can be linked to individuals.

On Tuesday, Muslim Pro spoke out on the issue. "The media reports that Muslim Pro has sold personal data of its users to the US military. This is incorrect and false. Muslim Pro is committed to protecting and securing the privacy of its users. This is an issue we take very seriously," the team said in a statement. "We have been open and transparent about the data we collect, store and process because the trust of millions of brothers and sisters in the ummah placed in Muslim Pro every day means everything to us," its leaders defend.