Bad Data “For Good”: How Data Brokers Try to Hide in Academic Research

"When data broker SafeGraph got caught selling location information on Planned Parenthood visitors, it had a public relations trick up its sleeve. After the company agreed to remove family planning center data from its platforms in response to public outcry, CEO Auren Hoffman tried to flip the narrative: he claimed that his company’s harvesting and sharing of sensitive data was, in fact, an engine for beneficial research on abortion access. He even argued that SafeGraph’s post-scandal removal of the clinic data was the real problem: “Once we decided to take it down, we had hundreds of researchers complain to us about…taking that data away from them.” Of course, when pressed, Hoffman could not name any individual researchers or institutions...."