WhatsApp has been facing a huge backlash since it announced its intention to update its privacy policy with changes that would allow Facebook to collect all user data across its services.
In fact, the Hamburg regulator is a ” the order can be executed immediately » Against Facebook until May 15There are fears that changes to WhatsApp’s privacy policy could lead to: Illegal use of user data for marketing and advertising purposes. In January, Europe had already threatened Facebook with a fine of 50 million euros. Indeed, its new policy has begun to be questioned. Violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented in 2018.
WhatsApp policy scares users
At the time, WhatsApp tried to clarify the procedure. In fact, the company declared that the new privacy policy was valid. has not changed the way it shares data about individual users and conversations with Facebook. In fact, we told you exactly what data the app shares with Facebook.
The new privacy policy is supposed to be relaxed to only affect businesses that use the WhatsApp platform, but this did not prevent some users from leaving the platform due to concerns about their privacyThe regulator’s data commissioner, Johannes Caspar, told our colleagues at Bloomberg that the new policy would expand data sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook, which ” illegally enforced “.
“ WhatsApp is currently used by around 60 million people in Germany, making it by far the most used social network after Facebook. It is therefore all the more important to ensure that the high number of users that make the service attractive to many does not lead to an abuse of the power of data. So far, to our knowledge, there has been no vigilant control over the actual transactions between WhatsApp and Facebook. There is reason to believe that the provisions that would allow and expand data sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook would be illegal due to the lack of voluntary and informed consent. ” said the regulator.
Caspar said WhatsApp has requested a three-month freeze on the collection of user data, adding:extraordinary circumstances” Powered by GDPR. Measures may be extended by the European Data Protection SupervisorIt is an organisation that brings together regulators from the 27 member states of the European Union.
Source : Datasheet Hamburg
