Norfolk police remove Facebook tool that shared victim info

It follows an outcry after it was revealed that data about people reporting sexual offences, domestic abuse and other crimes has been passed on via an embedded tool called a Meta pixel which was being used on the police website.

The type of offence being reported as well as a user’s Facebook profile code, was sent to the social media giant via a tracking tool called a Meta Pixel (Image: PA)

Information about content viewed including advice pages for crimes including rape, assaults, stalking and fraud was sent despite the online form for victims and witnesses to report offences apparently being “secure”.

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Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies said the tracking tool had been used on its websites for “recruitment purposes” but was now being removed after the “wider implications” became apparent.  

It comes after victims’ charities and privacy experts said the sharing of the information with the internet giant was a “shocking breach of trust” that threatened to undermine confidence in the police.

The embedded tracking tool also sent details to Facebook about content viewed and buttons clicked on police contact webpages (Image: Norfolk Constabulary)

The data protection regulator the Information Commissioner's Office said the use of the tools, first reported in The Observer, raised “real privacy concerns”.

“These sites are aimed at victims and witnesses of crime who expect their information to be treated with particular care,” it said. 

Mark Richards, an online privacy researcher, said that using ad pixels in this context was “like asking someone to report a crime when there’s a stranger in the room”.

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A spokesman for Norfolk and Suffolk police said: “We use data tracking tools on our two websites for recruitment purposes. 

“However, recognising the wider implications we have taken immediate steps and asked our website service providers to remove the relevant Meta pixel.”

Norfolk said the tool was being removed from its website (Image: Newsquest)

It said it was working with providers to ensure the use of cookies and pixels on soon to be launched new police websites were “compliant with information standards and are only included on relevant web pages where necessary”.

A spokesman for Meta, which operates Facebook, said its policies were that advertisers should “not send sensitive information” and its system is “designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it is able to detect”.