Salam. I have installed an app that collects my surfing data (like facebook) and sends it to Tobiipro, a marketing (eye tracking) research company to study. They study my data on many aspects. One of them is which website I visit, which ADS appear on screen. All I need to do is to use my phone as usual and the app runs in the background. They give me 15$ every other month as a gift. Is the money halal?
Note: I used to use my phone in the same way before installing the app. The app doesn’t show me any ads, nor do I show ads to others. What happens is that they check my visiting website and check those ads which are on that website. I am not in control of those ads, neither are they. Even if I do not use this particular app that collects my data those ads will appear on my screen because I use google, youtube, facebook etc.
Answer
Wa’alaykum as Salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
The funds which they give to you is Halal.
And Allaah Ta’aala knows best
Wassalaam,
Ismail Moosa (Mufti)