The new policies are intended to protect users' privacy when visiting abortion clinics and domestic violence shelters.
Tech companies have been under pressure to address data privacy concerns since the overturn of the Wade decision.
Some of the places people visit, such as counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, and others, can be particularly personal. If our systems detect that someone has visited one of these places, we will remove the entries from the location history. The change will take effect in the near future.
The app store protocols will be updated to give more information about how apps collect, share, and secure their data.
The tech giant will oppose law enforcement demands for user data. According to the company's internal transparency report, it received nearly 150,000 requests for user data by law enforcement in the first half of 2021.
Privacy experts are concerned about the possible impact of the Wade decision on data collection. Users' search histories, as well as text messages and location data, have already been used in cases in Mississippi and Indiana to prosecute women for their abortions.
"What companies should be thinking about is that they gather a lot of data about people's everyday lives, which could and is already being used against them in this context." Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said there was a lot of data to take into account.
It's very important for companies to take the time to look into the future and to think about the ways in which the data that they gather can be used to target people doing
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