Recent large-scale crackdowns by the FIA and others on loan applications in Pakistan have led to many office closures and the removal of those apps from the Google Play Store.
Speaking of Google, the industry leader in online search has teamed up with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to enact stronger regulations for these applications.
If you’ve been following these apps, you’d be aware that the suspicion is not unwarranted. Indeed, they amass a questionable amount of data. Details are provided below.
A Lot of Permissions:
Popular lending apps require an unusually high number of permissions, even for basic functions, even when they are registered with the SECP. For instance, Barwaqt requires access to your whole phone gallery, all of your contacts, all of your app activity, and all of your personal data.
Other well-known apps like JazzCash and Easypaisa do not show their list of required permissions in the app store, but if you download their apps to your phone, you may view the complete list.
These apps also ask for a tonne of data from you. On current versions of Android, you can always choose to prevent any of this data collecting, but it is very dubious that they even exist. Remember that the total number of downloads for these apps on Android exceeds 70 million.
The same practises are also used by other SECP-registered apps including EasyLoan and Muawin. Together, more than a million people have downloaded these programmes.
Not a Surprise:
If you have been reading the plot, none of this should be a surprise. For all of this data gathering, these apps have also run into difficulty in the past. We have no way of knowing if all of this data is used for their personal benefit or if it is sold to outside parties.
On the plus side, SECP did declare that it has informed all of its registered apps, including Barwaqt, that they have a week to rectify their predatory behaviour or risk being closed down.