Facebook has blocked one of the UK’s biggest insurers from using the social media network’s user data to set insurance rates.
A recently-launched scheme from Admiral Insurance targeted first-time car owners, offering to analyze their Facebook posts to see if their personality traits matched those of successful drivers.
Participants were told they could save as much as £350 ($429) a year on their car insurance if they were judged to be conscientious and well-organized.
The scheme, named firstcarquote, was set to launch this week, but, as first noted by UK privacy advocates Open Rights Group, the app has been blocked by Facebook from accessing user data.
The initiative from Admiral Insurance would contravene Facebook’s Platform Policy, which states that developers cannot “use data obtained from Facebook to make decisions about eligibility, including whether to approve or reject an application or how much interest to charge on a loan.
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