Venmo adding privacy controls after Biden's friends' list leaked

SAN FRANCISCO: After US President Joe Biden's friend list was leaked online, Venmo which is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal is adding new privacy controls for friends' list. Earlier this month, BuzzFeed News had found Biden's Venmo account after less than 10 minutes of looking for it, "revealing a network of his private social connections".

The report found nearly a dozen Biden family members, a wide network of people around them, including the president's children, grandchildren, senior White House officials, and all of their contacts on Venmo. The president's transactions were not public.

App researcher Jane Manchun Wong has now discovered that Venmo was working on new privacy controls. A company spokesperson told The Verge on Saturday that they are consistently evolving and strengthening the Venmo platform for all of its customers.

"As part of these ongoing efforts, we are enhancing our in-app controls providing customers an option to select a public, friends-only, or private setting for their friends list," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

After BuzzFeed News reached out to the White House, all the friends on the president's Venmo account were removed, and the Venmo accounts tied to the president and first lady Jill Biden were no longer online. (IANS)

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