Tim Hortons' mobile app will be investigated after concerns about how the breakfast and coffee chain may be collecting and using data were raised, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) said on Monday.
Earlier this month, the Financial Post had reported https://business.financialpost.com/technology/tim-hortons-app-tracking-customers-intimate-data that Tim Hortons, a unit of Restaurants Brands International <QSR.TO>, was collecting users' location data and using a third-party company to analyze that data.
The OPC said it would join privacy commissioners of Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia to investigate on whether Tim Hortons is in compliance with Canada's federal private sector privacy law.
The investigators will also look into whether the company obtained consent from users to collect and use their data, which could include detailed user profiles, the OPC said in a statement https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2020/nr-c_200629.
"We will fully cooperate with the Canadian privacy regulatory authorities," Tim Hortons' Chief Corporate Officer Duncan Fulton said.
Fulton said the company recently updated the app to limit the collection of location data to only when guests have the app open.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
