Muslim Pro Developer Answers Allegations Of Selling Data To The US Military

Screenshot of the Muslim Pro website (Aditya Fajar / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Muslim Pro application is a conversation among netizens regarding the suspicion of selling their users' personal data to the United States Military (US). The developer of the application also denied the mentioned accusations.

Firmly, Muslim Pro states that this report is not true. Muslim Pro is committed to protecting the privacy data of its users.

"Media reports are circulating that Muslim Pro has sold its users' personal data to the US military. This is FALSE and NOT TRUE," wrote Muslim Pro on his website, Wednesday, November 18.

Muslim Pro developer said that it never once sold or shared its user location data. Where applications that provide features such as prayer timers, adhan reminders, and the Al-Qur'an with translation have complied with privacy and data protection standards for 10 years.

"Muslim Pro is committed to protecting and securing the privacy of our users. This is an issue that we take very seriously," wrote Muslim Pro in his official statement.

In addition, Muslim Pro also confirmed that it would end cooperation with third parties. This includes a company called X-Mode which is said to be streaming Muslim Pro user data to the US military.

"We will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure that our users can perform their worship with peace of mind, which remains the only mission since the creation of Muslim Pro," continued the Muslim Pro.

"We apologize to all our users for the concern that this report has caused it and we can confirm that your data is safe with us," he concluded.

The Muslim Pro application is known to have reached nearly 100 million users in more than 216 countries around the world, including Indonesia, where the majority of the population is Muslim.

Muslim Pro application (Google Play Store)

However, recently, based on the results of an investigation by US media, Motherboard, stated that the Muslim Pro application has sent a number of user data including location to a third party, namely X-Mode. The Muslim Pro user location data set is sold by X-Mode to a number of parties, including the US Department of Defense

Even in a statement, US Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard that X-Mode does indeed sell location data captured by cellphones on United States territory to the US military.

"In a phone call last September, X-Mode attorneys confirmed that the company has sold data collected from cell phone users in the United States to the US military through the defense department," said Wayden, as quoted by Vice.