Data privacy: Why Venmo sent my personal info – and yours – to Braze

You might be wondering what exactly Braze.com is and why it grabs their geographic, associations and more. I found out Friday that after I composed a message on the PayPal-owned digital payments app Venmo to pay my personal trainer Jarek, Venmo passed on my geographic locations and associations (including Jarek) to Braze, which calls itself a "customer engagement" company. Just last month, the Norwegian Consumer Council issued a blistering report showing what happened to users of the dating sites OKCupid and Grindr in the background, after people revealed all about their interests. OkCupid "shared highly personal data about sexuality, drug use, political views, and more," with Braze, according to the report. Grindr, a popular dating and social app used by gay and bisexual men, sent data to Braze about the "relationship type" men were seeking on the app, per the report.