The supervisory authority in Hamburg, Germany hopes to implement an “immediate execution order” on Facebook before May 15 because of concerns that changes in WhatsApp’s privacy policy may cause user data to be illegally used for marketing and advertising purposes. Data Commissioner Johannes Caspar said in a statement earlier today:
WhatsApp is currently used by nearly 60 million people in Germany and is currently the most widely used social media application, even surpassing Facebook. Therefore, we should ensure a high number of users to make this service attractive to many people and not lead to abuse of data rights.
The revision of the privacy policy at that time indicated that WhatsApp will share more data with Facebook, such as phone numbers, service-related information, IP addresses, and transaction data. However, WhatsApp later made it clear that this update does not affect user chats or chats with Facebook. With regard to data sharing of personal profile information, the new terms apply instead to users who use the business chat feature.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp postponed the introduction of a new privacy policy because confusion and user disgust forced the company to reassure users of its commitment to privacy. Nevertheless, due to the application for an enforcement order, the relationship between Facebook and WhatsApp will be subject to greater scrutiny in Germany.
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So far, as far as we know, there has been no supervision and review of the actual processing operations between WhatsApp and Facebook. We have reason to believe that due to the lack of voluntary and informed consent, the terms that will enable and expand data sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook will be illegally enforced.
Facebook said in a statement that it is reviewing information received from Hamburg regulators and “will resolve their misunderstandings about the purpose and effects of the update.” The company added that it remains “committed to providing secure and private communications for everyone.”
To be clear, by accepting the updated terms of service for WhatsApp, users do not agree to our expanded ability to share data with Facebook, and the update will not affect the privacy of their information with friends or family, no matter where they are in the world.
In fact, since 2016, WhatsApp has shared some user information with Facebook, such as phone numbers, but chat messages and phone calls are still private and protected by end-to-end encryption. Facebook will have the opportunity to respond to these allegations at a hearing before mid-May.
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