“A devastating betrayal”: Muslim Pro’s data-sharing highlights the constant surveillance of Muslims
November 20, 2020If you’re Muslim, you know Muslim Pro, a popular Quran and prayer app. When I converted to Islam, it was one of the first apps people suggested I get, and that’s no surprise. According to its website, Muslim Pro has been downloaded over 95 million times around the world. But earlier this week, Motherboard reported that Muslim Pro is connected to a United States military data supply chain. While surveillance is nothing new to Muslims, hearing that a prayer app was somehow transmitting information to the U.S. military has left many feeling unsettled.
In its privacy policy, Muslim Pro identifies that it works with two data location companies, Tutela and Quadrant. However, Muslim Pro failed to mention one other company it sold data to: X-Mode. Motherboard found that X-Mode was not only collecting location data from Muslim Pro, but also other identifying information, like the WiFi network a phone was connected to, timestamps, and information about the phone itself. This data was then sold to contractors and, by extension, the U.S. military.