MoviePass has removed its location tracking feature after a huge backlash from customers concerned about privacy
- MoviePass has disabled location tracking on its app.
- This follows privacy concerns after CEO Mitch Lowe revealed that the app is tracking what its customers are doing after leaving the movie theater.
MoviePass has removed the capability to track its customers, following privacy concerns.
According to Variety, in an iOS update of the app on Wednesday the notes stated that it has "removed unused app location capability."
The removal of location tracking comes after comments made by MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe that sparked complaints that the app was infringing on its customers' privacy.
Lowe stated at a conference last week that the MoviePass app tracks users "in your GPS by the phone … so we watch how you drive from home to the movies," according to Media Play News. "We watch where you go afterwards, and so we know the movies you watch. We know all about you. We don't sell that data. What we do is we use that data to market films."
This comes on the heels of the app navigating through another controversy when it terminated a "small percentage" of its customers for violating its terms of service in February. Many people who had their accounts deleted said they thought they should not have been taken off the service, and were unfairly targeted. MoviePass eventually reinstated roughly 10% of the accounts it deleted, the company told Business Insider.
In a statement to Variety on Wednesday, MoviePass stated: "Today, MoviePass released a new app update, including the removal of some unused app location capabilities. While part of our vision includes using location-based marketing to enhance the moviegoing experience for our members, we aren't using some of that functionality today. Our members will always have the option to choose the location-based services that are right for them today and in the future."