Eyebrows have been raised concerning new tools designed to allow Snapchat users to connect their accounts to third party apps.

Mashable claims to have laid eyes on a beta version of Snapchat that contained a new feature called ‘connected apps’, with accompanying text that reads: “These apps are connected to your Snapchat account. Choose an app to control what it has access to.”

This all comes at a time when Facebook is facing international pressure over allowing third party apps to harvest user data, some of which was sold on to other parties who in turn worked with people such as Donald Trump and the Leave EU campaign.

Facebook has said that it is reviewing all apps that access user data and will implement new tools that allow users to understand who can access their information – and to stop them if they so wish.

For Snapchat to be heading in that direction, then, seems a might ill-judged.

The current Snapchat API allows ad companies to book space, but it does not allow for Snapchat accounts to interact with other programs. It is not yet known what user information may be shared with other apps, or whether users will be able to potentially post to Snapchat using other services.

Much of Snapchat’s traffic is accounted for by private messages, and Snap does not currently share this data for ad targeting. A Snap spokesperson also told Recode that the service’s current API doesn’t share personally identifiable information with advertisers, relying instead on aggregate data.

It does, however, collect enough user data to allow it to serve targeted advertising.

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