Many of the most popular free games on the Google Play Store contain multiple trackers and share user data with companies in countries including China, Russia and Israel, according to a study by Proton.
Proton analyzed the 100 most-downloaded Android games in the US and found that 95 send data to entities in Israel, 81 share user data with China, and 71 send data to Russia. The study also found that 98 of the 100 games send data to entities in Five Eyes countries, which include the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The research found that seven of the games actively track users’ geolocation. While location tracking is expected for games such as Pokémon Go because location is central to its gameplay, Proton said other games, including puzzle and coloring apps, were also found accessing location data.
On average, each game contained 29 trackers that could collect user information. The researchers said the most popular games have been downloaded nearly 20 billion times worldwide, showing the potential scale of the data collection involved.
The study also highlighted the scale of data sharing among the 10 most popular games in the US. During a single month, those games were downloaded around 20 million times, with nearly 16 million of those downloads associated with data being shared with Chinese companies and almost 14 million sending data to Russia.
Proton said similar patterns were found in other markets, with many of the most popular games in the UK, Germany and France also sharing data with entities in Five Eyes countries, Israel, Russia and China.
The researchers said the tracking is closely connected to the free-to-play business model, where advertising and data-broker networks help support games that users can download without paying upfront.
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Proton recommends that users consider using an ad blocker capable of filtering DNS requests to prevent tracking and advertising domains from being reached.
