A financial services company based in San Francisco will have to pay $58 million over its data gathering techniques.
Plaid Inc. recently settled a class action suit accusing it of collecting excessive data from users.
Freya Petersen, corporate communications lead at Plaid, said the company does not sell data.
“First, it's important to note that we continue to deny allegations, which revolve around whether or not people have enough understanding of Plaid and our role in connecting their accounts to the apps and services they sign up to use,” she told the Northern California Record. “We maintain that the claims raised in the lawsuit do not reflect our practices, and believe that people are adequately notified of Plaid and our role in connecting their accounts when they use an app that relies on our technology. As a result of the settlement, we've agreed to continue supporting products and workstreams underway that further empower consumers with more transparency and control over where and how their information is shared.”
Petersen added that the company recently launched the Plaid Portal, a product that gives people a way to see where their accounts are connected and manage those connections within Plaid.
“While the Plaid Portal was in development long before the class action suit, as part of the settlement we agreed to feature it prominently on our website,” she said.
Petersen added that the settlement was the right path forward “considering the intensive time and resources required to pursue further litigation.”
"The claims raised in the lawsuit do not reflect our practices. We help consumers safely connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they rely on,” the company said in a statement. “As Plaid has evolved from backend infrastructure for developers to also providing front-end solutions, we have become an industry leader in consumer privacy practices. We do not, nor have we ever, sold data. We make our role and practices clear, and provide services that give consumers control over how and where they share their data.”
The company hopes that moving forward, they can continue to focus on empowering millions of people with control over the data they share across the thousands of applications Plaid supports.