This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
In the EU this kind of automatic opting-in to marketing/data sharing is against the GDPR as it requires explicit consent from user/customer. I'm in the EU and have those settings but they were both toggled off, as expected.
UK here and they are turned on.
Thanks a lot, Brexit :(
they are turned on
Ooh, violate my privacy, daddy.
Even if the UK is not in the EU the GDPR still applies there, just the version it got while it was in the EU tho, no revisions
Also based in the EU, and mine were turned on
Can you report that somewhere?
I assume so, but I'm not sure where. I'll have to Google it later
Spain here, and both were turned on by default. Had to deactivate.
Same in Germany
Just checked it on three different accounts (germany) and each one had those two options turned on.
Remember, you may not see this at all if you're based in a country that doesn't allow it.
OP mentioned this
What if I told you this option doesn't actually get respected?
Then, hopefully, PayPal can look forward to spending at the very least 2% of their worldwide revenue to pay fines.
Thanks, i was thinking id need to go check them later today and that it was kinda illegal. Now i can be rest assured its fiiine
Starting early summer 2025, we’ll be building more personal experiences for you.
Let's just keep it professional Fintech. Thanks for the post OP.
In the app, under Data and Privacy:
Yep, they turned it on by default. It looks like you have until Nov 27th to turn it off before they share your data.
Confirmed this was enabled in my account. Fuckers. Also check out your search privacy settings in your PayPal account too. Also sharing info by default.
Ah so now they're a poor steward of my data as well as my money?
Yea, paypal is bad news all around
I guess most people don't know most banks have electronic funds transfer, or virtual credit cards, etc.
Ye, i dont know how it is worldwide but here in west europe paying online with your bank is just like paying with paypal. The only advantages paypal has over my bank is its return policy and it technically not directly linking the purchase with my personal info.
I havent used paypal in a while tbh...
Thanks, disabled. If they want this kind of info then give users a reward for it like 1-2% cashback or coupons. This is just greedy.
They can't give a reward for a "oh shit we're running out of hedge fund money, we need to stay solvent , let's sell out our user's data"
They also like to just hold onto large chunks of money arbitrarily.
Oh, you're going to take it up with customer support?
Lololol.
Good post. Just turned it off. I appreciate the heads up.
Mine was off, don't know if it's because I'm in California, but I toggled it back and forth to check and left it off.
I don't even see this option on my account. Old Canadian account, but my phone/Paypal app is EU.
Nor I, on my in-Canada account. Desktop access only; I don't have the Paypal app installed on my phone.
The article's image shows, under Manage your privacy settings, the options:
Permissions you've given
Interest-based marketing (which is the option pertinent to this issue)
Blocked contacts
But my account's options are:
Permissions you've given
Manage your cookies
Blocked contacts
Possibly the Marketing checkbox is the Canadian version of this? I've got that checkbox turned off.
Same account options as yours here on mobile, marketing is also off for me.
Thanks for comparing notes!
Off by default for me (EU)
It was on for me in Lithuania
On for me in the EU
Doesn't seem to show for business accounts FYI
Can confirm it’s a no-show for business accounts, same for me in US
Good thing I deleted my PayPal years ago over a previous TOS change.
What do you use instead?
Just standard credit card processing for purchases and zelle or venmo for transfers.
I got bad news about who owns Venmo.
I assume everyone is owned by someone terrible, but the individual policies and changes are what drives me to swap.
I pay for things on sites processed by PayPal too, I just don’t have an account.
US only iirc
What is someone squatted on your email, starting an unverified account attached to your email address with their phone number, but the fuckers at PayPal won't do a thing about it?
I had someone hijack my account last year, Like a dummy, I had failed to setup 2FA. I caught it in the morning after they worked it most of the wee hours. Phone and email had been changed. I contacted PP and to my surprise they were effective in righting everything. By the end of the day, it was corrected. I was absolutely shocked they were so helpful, but I guess it can happen. So, maybe try again?
Trust me, we have tried. The problem is that while there was never a PayPal account verified to that email address, somehow a foreign number is attached to it. Every time we have tried to start an account with that email, the verification ping goes to that number, even though the email is unverified. We haven't found a way to tell PayPal to disassociate that number, because we never had any account attached to it to begin with.
Cool, they banned my account some years ago and nothing of value was lost. And I don't think I even did anything to violate their rules, I only used it to pay rent for a few years and a handful of eBay purchases. My best guess is that someone "hacked" my account (my PW was pretty bad and in multiple breaches), but I tried logging in after years of not using it and couldn't do anything with it.
But yeah, nothing of value was lost. I haven't needed PayPal for years and don't need it now. Just say no and pay directly on whatever site you're buying at. I've bought tons of stuff from eBay and other online sites for years and it has never been an issue.
So screw 'em, just don't use their service.
Just disabled. Thanks for the heads up.
