Facebook bans behavioral analysis in exchange for a discount from British insurer

A British car insurer wants to offer customers a discount on their insurance if they give permission to have their Facebook behavior analyzed with an algorithm. Just before the introduction of the service, Facebook banned the insurer from doing so.

According to Facebook, it is forbidden to use data on the social network to make decisions about eligibility for certain things. Facebook refers to section 3.15 of the Platform Policy. British insurer Admiral, with its ‘Firstcarquote’, planned to give young car owners who buy a car for the first time the choice to have their Facebook behavior analyzed in exchange for a possible discount on their insurance. The insurance company wanted the service to go live on Wednesday, The Guardian writes.

Customers who would agree to have their Facebook profile analyzed could receive up to £350 a year, or about £388 a year. The insurer said it wants to use an algorithm that looks at personal characteristics that can be linked to safe driving. People identified as conscientious and well-organized would rank highly and receive more discounts.

Writing short, clear sentences, using lists, and making appointments with friends at a specific time and place, rather than ‘tonight’, would be rated positive by the algorithm. The use of exclamation marks and the frequent use of ‘always’ or ‘never’ instead of ‘maybe’ would speak to the novice driver. Admiral tells The Guardian that the algorithm does not look at photos, but does look at pages that the user likes.

After Facebook blocked the insurer’s plan, a company spokesperson told The Guardian that the insurance is a “beta product” and that it will come to the market in a simplified version, in consultation with the social network. With this new version Admiral will not have access to the Facebook data of the customers, but those customers can log in with Facebook and ‘easily share certain information’.

Privacy groups in the United Kingdom reacted strongly to the insurer’s plans, despite the fact that participation in providing personal information for the analysis is voluntary. Young people, targeted by the insurer, may feel compelled to participate in the program due to financial constraints. “The right to keep things private should not be reserved for people who can afford it,” Jim Killock, director of privacy organization Open Rights, told The Guardian.