Glassdoor Adding Real Names To Anonymous Profiles Without Consent: Report (Photo by Courtney Corlew on Unsplash)Glassdoor, the popular online platform where employees can anonymously review the companies they have worked for, has recently landed in a controversy. The platform is reportedly adding the names of users to their anonymous profiles without user consent.
This issue was first identified by a Glassdoor user named Monica. In a blog post titled “Time to delete your Glassdoor account and data,” Monica warned other Glassdoor users and said that the platform, known for its anonymity promise, now requires the real names of users and will add it to older accounts without their consent if they learn it. Monica also said that the only option is to delete the account.
Monica said that she joined Glassdoor 10 years ago. In the lengthy blog post, she also accused the platform of getting her full name from the email she sent to customer support. Monica said that they added her real name to her Glassdoor profile.
“I was so fixated on my name that I didn’t immediately notice my city was there too. I don’t know how long it’s been there,” she added. According to a report by Ars Technica, Glassdoor acquired Fishbowl in 2021, and with this acquisition, every Glassdoor user was automatically signed up for a Fishbowl account. As a result, the platform updated its terms of service so that every Glassdoor user could also be verified.
“They do not care that this puts people at risk with their employers. They do not care that this seems to run counter to their own data-privacy policies,” wrote Monica. At the same time, one Glassdoor employee reportedly told Monica in an email that the company requires all users to have their names on their profiles, and they need to update her profile to reflect this. The Glassdoor employee also said that her “anonymity will still be protected.” He also added, “No one has the ability to see your user profile and the contents within it.”
Meanwhile, Glassdoor’s spokesperson told Ars Technica that the platform does not comment on specific user accounts. “When a user provides information, either during the sign-up process or by uploading a resume, that information will automatically cross-populate between all Glassdoor services, including our community app Fishbowl,” said the spokesperson in a statement to Ars Technica. This incident has raised concerns over data privacy.