WHAT THE POLICIES SAY

Foursquare (operated by Foursquare Labs, Inc., a private, VC-backed San Francisco company; its Movement/Places data lineage traces to the 2020 merger with the location-data broker Factual) is a location-data platform whose consumer apps and enterprise Places/Movement SDKs collect precise geolocation on an opt-in basis, including optional background location. Its privacy policy discloses that it both receives commercially available data from third-party 'Data Suppliers/Brokers and Advertising Networks' and separately declares a CCPA right to opt out of the 'sale' and 'sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising' of personal data — a self-declared sale/share posture typical of the data-broker genre. Foursquare states membership in the Network Advertising Initiative's Precise Location Solution Provider Enhanced Standards, which restricts use of location tied to sensitive place categories. No FTC/state-AG order or breach was found, but Foursquare was one of eight app makers that paid into a finalized $5.3 million class-action settlement (Opperman v. Path) over 2009-2012 iOS contact-list-harvesting claims.

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Foursquare's privacy policy states that precise or approximate location data is only collected if the user opts in, and that background location (location received when the app is closed or not in use) requires a separate opt-in permitted by device settings. The same policy separately discloses that Foursquare also receives commercially available data from third-party 'Data Suppliers/Brokers and Advertising Networks,' including demographic data, cross-app/cross-site behavioral data, and device/advertising identifiers (Apple IDFA, Google Advertising ID) bundled with location data.

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OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

Foursquare's own About page publicly names its board of directors: Gary Little (President & CEO), Dennis Crowley (Co-founder & Co-chairman), Gil Elbaz (Co-chairman — founder of the location-data broker Factual, which merged with Foursquare in 2020), Brandon Gardner (President and COO, Raine), Barry Schuler (Founder and Managing Partner, DFJ Growth), and Gina Loften (Retired CTO), confirming the company is private with named institutional investors rather than a publicly traded filer.

foursquare.com ↗

OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

Foursquare's privacy policy identifies the legal operator as Foursquare Labs, Inc., located at 1160 Battery St, Suite 275, San Francisco, CA 94111.

foursquare.com ↗

SHARING

Foursquare's privacy policy discloses a CCPA-based consumer right to opt out of the 'sale' of personal data and the 'sharing' of personal data for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes — a self-declared sale/share designation under California law, distinct from an outright claim that Foursquare 'sells your data.'

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TRACK RECORD

A federal judge finalized a $5.3 million class-action settlement (Opperman v. Path, Inc. / Kong Technologies, N.D. Cal.) resolving claims that eight app makers — including Foursquare, Twitter, Instagram, and Yelp — uploaded iOS users' address-book contact data without consent between 2009 and 2012; the fund included attorneys' fees, litigation costs, and class-representative awards.

courthousenews.com ↗

TRACKING TECH

Foursquare states it is a participating member of the Network Advertising Initiative's Precise Location Solution Provider Enhanced Standards, which restrict members from using, allowing use of, selling, or sharing location information correlated to sensitive place categories (e.g. places of worship, correctional facilities, LGBTQ+-associated locations).

foursquare.com ↗

LAST REVIEWED 2026-08-19 · METHODOLOGY v1.7