Incident #50F02E · 07 JUL 2026notable
BeReal adds AI-inferred gender and advertiser phone-number matching for ad targeting, and asks for email at signup
BeReal now asks for an email address when you create an account. It also infers your likely gender with AI from your username, first name and bio for internal ad targeting, and lets advertisers upload hashed customer phone numbers that are matched against hashed phone numbers of BeReal users to show them ads. Inferring interests from photos, the consent-or-legitimate-interest basis and the 'Modify my consents' setting were already in the old policy, though the setting now also covers profile information. The policy says this processing is not deployed in all regions.
Taken from you
- Email address is now requested at account creation
- AI infers your likely gender from username, first name and biography
- Your phone number, hashed, is matched against advertiser customer lists for ad targeting
Won back
- Stated that inference is not deployed in all regions
- Stated that inferred gender, like interests before it, is not sold or shared with advertisers
- Stated that advertisers' hashed values are not kept beyond matching and matched lists are not disclosed back
- The existing 'Modify my consents' setting now also covers ML analysis of profile information, not only photos
Evidence · 4 of 4 quotes matched in source
Your likely gender, inferred via AI from your username, first name and biography, used exclusively as internal targeting criteria.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
We match this list against hashed phone numbers associated with BeReal user accounts in order to display that advertiser’s ads to the relevant users on BeReal.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
Your likely interests derived from the visual elements of your photos, used exclusively as internal targeting criteria.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
we will ask you for the following information: your phone number, full name, email address, date of birth and username.+ inserted · ✓ matched in source
Archived version ↗ · 1,946 words changed