Honesty is the best policy. Or is it?

A company that pays people for their data just doubled its revenue.

Canadian Reklaim is one of several apps that give users value in points, loyalty rewards or currency when they share their data voluntarily. For now, the app is only available in the US and Canada. The data is sold on to third parties, and consent-based data like this keeps growing in value.

Reklaim grew its revenue by 103 percent in the second quarter of 2026. The company says stricter privacy rules are a tailwind. Data people agreed to share is safer to buy.

But what do users get back? Reklaim does not say. Britain's Gener8 has more than 750,000 users. The app can be used outside the UK too, but most rewards are for British users. By comparison, Gener8 says users get 80 percent of the revenue. The company itself has estimated 5 to 25 pounds a month.

In Europe, this is still contested. The EU's data protection board has taken the view that personal data cannot be treated as a commodity. Italy's data protection authority has found that the app Weople, which promises users payment for their data, profiled them without a valid legal basis. Still, the trend is clear: consent-based data gains value as regulation tightens.

The question is changing. AI needs your data and mine to keep developing. Who are we willing to share it with, and what is it worth? DARA is following the story.