Facebook has reportedly asked big banks to share customers' financial data


Facebook wants to enter the final frontier of user data: finance.
The platform has asked major banks to share financial information about customers, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, in an effort to gather more data for new features.
The company proposed the idea to JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and U.S. Bank over the last year, the Journal reports. Facebook was interested in collecting information on card transactions and account balances, in order to show users their balances within Facebook Messenger. The platform also suggested offering fraud alerts and other features.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which 87 million users' data was improperly accessed by a third-party data firm, is still fresh in people's minds, however. At least one bank has turned down Facebook's ideas due to data privacy concerns, and other bank executives are reportedly wary of giving Facebook too much information.
The social media giant asked banks for information about where users are shopping, in exchange for a Messenger feature that would make it easier for people to make purchases in-app. Facebook said it wouldn't use the data for targeted ads, or share it with third parties. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.
-
Pope Leo wants to change the Vatican’s murky finances
The Explainer Leo has been working to change some decisions made by his predecessor
-
October books: an academic analysis of Taylor Swift and the solution to your digital addiction
The Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘Taylor’s Version’ by Stephanie Burt, ‘Enshittification’ by Cory Doctorow and ‘Minor Black Figures’ by Brandon Taylor
-
Auto loans: Trouble in the subprime economy
Feature The downfall of Tricolor Holdings may reflect the growing financial strain low-income Americans are facing
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial unease
Speed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B deal
speed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance