For years, Venmo has been a staple of peer-to-peer payments in the United States, used by millions to split dinner bills, pay rent, or send money to friends. But the platform has also been a gold mine of public information — a quirk that journalists, researchers, and even casual observers have exploited to uncover financial relationships, political donations, and personal connections. Now, that era is coming to an end. Venmo has announced that it will soon make hidden transactions an onboarding option, allowing new users to keep their financial activity private from the moment they sign up.
A Long-Awaited Change
Venmo’s default privacy setting has always been a point of contention. When the app launched in 2009, transactions were public by default, and users had to manually change each payment’s privacy setting to “private” if they wanted to keep it hidden. This led to a bizarre culture of public transaction feeds, where users could see who paid whom, for what, and with what memo. While some embraced the social aspect — Venmo even introduced emoji reactions and comments — others were unaware that their financial activities were visible to anyone with the app.
Over the years, privacy advocates called for a default-private option, but Venmo resisted, citing the social features that made the platform unique. That changed following a BuzzFeed News investigation in 2018 that revealed how public Venmo transactions could be scraped to build detailed profiles of users, including politicians, celebrities, and military personnel. The story forced Venmo to introduce the ability to make all past and future transactions private, but even then, it remained an opt-in feature that many users overlooked.
The Journalist’s Toolkit
For journalists, Venmo’s public data has been a valuable reporting tool. Reporters have used it to track undisclosed payments, uncover conflicts of interest, and reveal financial links between public figures and special interests. For example, in 2020, a ProPublica investigation used Venmo data to show that aides to then-President Donald Trump were receiving payments from groups lobbying the White House. In 2023, a similar scoop tied a member of Congress to a controversial cryptocurrency promoter.
The ability to scrape Venmo data was relatively easy: third-party websites and tools like Venmo Scraper allowed anyone to download feeds. Journalists often used these to find needles in haystacks. The new default-private option will make such scraping far less effective, as most new users will now start with private settings, and existing users may feel pressured to follow suit.
“This is a huge loss for accountability reporting,” said one investigative journalist who wishes to remain anonymous. “Venmo was one of the few windows we had into the personal finances of powerful people. Now that window is closing.”
What the Change Means
Venmo announced the change in a blog post titled “Improving Your Privacy from Day One.” The company wrote: “We’ve heard your concerns, and starting next month, new users will be able to choose a private default during onboarding. Existing users will receive a prompt encouraging them to review their privacy settings.” The update also includes a toggle to make all future transactions private by default, overriding the per-transaction setting.
While the move is a win for privacy, it has drawn mixed reactions. Privacy advocates applaud Venmo for finally taking action, but they note that the change is not retroactive. “This doesn’t undo the massive amount of data already made public over the last 17 years,” said a spokesperson for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Venmo still holds a huge archive of users’ public transaction history. The company should also provide an easy way to delete that history entirely.”
Indeed, Venmo’s history of public transactions remains a treasure trove for anyone with a database. Even after the change, new users who choose private defaults will still have their past activity searchable until they manually delete it. And for current users, the change is simply a prompt, not a mandatory switch. Many may ignore it, leaving their transactions exposed.
The Broader Context
The Venmo update comes amid a regulatory crackdown on financial privacy. In 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) began investigating how payment apps handle user data. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has introduced legislation that would require all peer-to-peer payment platforms to default to private transactions. Venmo’s move may be a preemptive attempt to avoid stricter regulation.
Meanwhile, competitors like Cash App and Zelle have always kept transactions private by default, and Apple Pay never showed transactions to anyone but the parties involved. Venmo’s social feed — once its differentiator — had become a liability. “The world has moved on from wanting to share every coffee purchase,” said a tech analyst at Forrester. “Venmo is finally catching up to user expectations.”
For journalists, though, the loss is real. Public Venmo data has been used in investigative reports that led to policy changes, resignations, and even criminal charges. In 2022, a series of articles based on public Venmo transactions exposed a network of ghost employees in a mayoral campaign, leading to a federal investigation. “We’re not just talking about embarrassing information,” said a professor of journalism at Columbia University. “This was a tool for accountability. Its partial closure will make it harder to hold powerful people accountable.”
Reactions from the Public
On social media, reactions were mixed. Some users celebrated the privacy win. “Finally, I can pay my therapist without the world knowing,” tweeted one user. Others expressed concern about the implications for journalism. “Journalists are mourning, but regular people are rejoicing. That tension sums up the privacy debate perfectly,” wrote another.
Journalists themselves took to the web to express their mixed feelings. “I hate that Venmo is doing this, but I also understand why it’s necessary,” wrote a tech reporter for a major newspaper. “Privacy is a right, not a privilege. But we need to find new ways to track financial flows.”
Some have already started exploring alternatives. Public records requests, leaked databases, and whistleblowers may become the new norm. Others are turning to platforms like Patreon or GoFundMe, which offer some transparency but less than what Venmo once provided.
The Future of Transaction Transparency
Venmo’s change is a microcosm of a larger shift. As public awareness of data privacy grows, companies are increasingly retreating from the all-public defaults that characterized the early internet. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all introduced more granular privacy controls. But this shift comes with a cost: the loss of certain types of accountability.
For journalists, the lesson is clear: they cannot rely on corporate platforms to remain transparent. More robust public records laws, independent data collection, and a focus on institutional accountability are needed. “We used to rely on Venmo as a lazy substitute for real reporting,” said one veteran journalist. “Now we have to do the hard work again.”
As the new feature rolls out, the first impact will be on new users. Journalists will scramble to download as much public data as possible before the change takes effect. Some are already building archives. But it’s a losing battle. Within a year, the vast majority of Venmo users will likely be private, and the platform will become just another payment app. For better or worse, the days of public Venmo stalking are numbered.
In the meantime, users should check their own privacy settings. If you don’t want your future transactions visible to the world, consider switching to private now. And if you’re a journalist, maybe start looking for a new tool. The golden age of Venmo scraping is over.
Source: Gizmodo News