The Apps For Ireland's Anti-Abortion Campaigns Allow User Data To Be Shared With The NRA

The Save the 8th and LoveBoth apps, hosted by the company that ran apps for the Trump and Brexit campaigns, allow personal user data to be shared with an international network of conservative groups.

Ireland's two largest anti-abortion campaigns are facing questions over privacy after a BuzzFeed News analysis found that personal user data gathered by both of their apps can be shared with an international network of conservative and religious groups that includes the US National Rifle Association.

The Save the 8th campaign and the LoveBoth Project are at the forefront of the campaign to prevent the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of Ireland's constitution – which makes abortion illegal in most cases – when the country votes in a referendum this Friday. Save the 8th's My8 app and the LoveBoth app were developed by the same Washington, DC–based company, Political Social Media LLC, which specialises in building digital campaigning tools for conservative, religious, and anti-abortion groups.

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This means data can be shared not just between the two ostensibly separate Irish anti-abortion groups, but also with previous clients such as the NRA, the Trump presidential campaign, the Republican National Committee, and the Susan B. Anthony List, a major US anti-abortion group. In the UK, the network includes the Conservative Party and main pro-Brexit campaign, Vote Leave.

The company has also developed apps for the Australian Christian Lobby and Marriage Alliance, two groups that campaigned unsuccessfully against marriage equality when the country voted on the issue in a postal survey last November.