Admiral, the car insurance provider, has been left red-faced after Facebook said its plans to scour profiles to work out driver behaviour was prohibited under its terms and conditions.
On Wednesday, the insurer said it would launch a new insurance deal for young first-time drivers that would offer them potentially reduced rates in exchange for access to their Facebook profile.
In a post on its website, the company said it would create an algorithm which would try to calculate how likely it was a prospective customer would be a safe driver based on language and posts on their profile over the past six months. It said it would do this because "there is a proven link between personality and how people drive".
Admiral said it wanted to "look at your Facebook profile", with the user's permission, to calculate "the discount we're able to offer".
But Facebook put a dampener on the plan, which had been heavily criticised by the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, and confirmed that companies were banned from using profile data to assess eligibility for services and loans, including insurance.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Admiral would not be permitted to use the site for that purpose.
They said: “Protecting the privacy of the people on Facebook is of utmost importance to us. We have clear guidelines that prevent information being obtained from Facebook from being used to make decisions about eligibility.
"We have made sure anyone using this app is protected by our guidelines and that no Facebook user data is used to assess their eligibility."
Renate Samson, CEO of Big Brother Watch, said the move by Admiral was another example of saying: "You can have a better deal by offering up a bit of your privacy."
She warned that even though companies such as Admiral may be banned from using private profile data in this way, people should be aware of what information was available about them, freely, online.
Admiral has not responded to multiple requests for comment at the time of writing.