After setting off another firestorm over Facebook's abusive data privacy practices when it revealed that the social media giant encouraged users as young as 13 to bypass the Apple app store and side-load an app that offered them a small financial incentive to allow the company unfettered access to their personal data, TechCrunch has followed up its earlier report with another bombshell: Google built a very similar app that functioned in practically the same exact way.

The app built by Google, called Screenwise Meter, was available for iOS and Android users. Like Facebook, the app violated Apple's policies over using its enterprise developer certificate to allow non-employees to download the app. It also encouraged teenagers to download the app, allowing Google to hoover up sensitive personal data about their phone-usage habits.