When you send or receive money on Venmo, the details of that transaction — including who you paid and your memo note — are visible to everyone by default, including people who don't have Venmo accounts.
The default public setting means your payment history and memo fields (which may contain sensitive descriptions) are visible to anyone on the internet, creating significant privacy and safety risks for users who are unaware of this default.
Cross-platform context
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Compare across platforms →Your financial transactions can reveal sensitive information about your personal relationships, health, religious practices, or lifestyle — and Venmo exposes this publicly unless you manually opt in to privacy.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision implicates the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA, 15 U.S.C. §6802), which restricts sharing of non-public personal financial information, though GLBA's application to social feed data is debated. FTC Act Section 5 (15 U.S.C. §45) is directly relevant as public-by-default financial transaction data may constitute an unfair or deceptive practice. CCPA §1798.100 grants California residents rights over personal information including transaction data. The CFPB has supervisory authority over Venmo as a non-bank payment provider under the Consumer Financial Protection Act.
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