The US military has purchased the location data of millions of Muslims from around the world who use popular Muslim apps. Applications such as Muslim Pro, Prayer app, and also Quran app are claimed used by them. According to a report, those applications are selling their users’ personal data to various different brokers including the US military.
The US military is reported to use two separate methods to obtain the location data of users. The first involved a product called Locate X while the second method is by involving a company called X-Mode.
The U.S. military is buying location data about Muslims retrieved by Muslim dating and prayer apps, per @VICE.
Apps include Muslim Pro (150 million downloads) and Muslim Mingle. The data is reportedly collected by a third party called X-Mode, which then sells it to contractors. pic.twitter.com/QymuUgMhxL
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 16, 2020
For the first method, US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a branch of the military tasked with counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and special reconnaissance, bought access to Locate X to assist on overseas special forces operations. For the second method, they obtain location data directly from apps then sell that data to contractors, and by extension, to the US military.
A report has mentioned that Muslim Pro which is an app that gives precise daily prayer times and also gives users the direction to Mecca in relation to their current location, was sending user data to X-Mode. Muslim Pro touts itself as the “Most Popular Muslim App” and also includes passages and audio readings from the Quran.
The particular app has been downloaded over 50 million times across the world on Android devices, according to the Google Play Store, and over 95 million in total across other platforms including iOS, according to Muslim Pro’s website.
The military industrial complex and the surveillance state have always had a cozy relationship with tech. Buying bulk data in order to profile Muslims is par for the course for them – and is absolutely sickening. It should be illegal! https://t.co/kNqQXP9lCF
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 16, 2020
Sources: Twitter AJ+, Twitter Ilhan Omar.
