German regulators are seeking to bar WhatsApp from sharing user data with its parent company, Facebook.
Bloomberg reports that the regulator in the city of Hamburg is seeking an “immediately enforceable order” before May 15. The regulator has concerns that policy changes could lead to the use of such data by Facebook for wider marketing and advertising purposes.
Data Commissioner Johannes Caspar said in a statement earlier today:
WhatsApp is now used by almost 60 million people in Germany and is by far the most widely used social media application, even ahead of Facebook. It is therefore all the more important to ensure that the high number of users, which makes the service attractive to many people, does not lead to an abusive exploitation of data power.
The privacy policy changes originally suggested that WhatsApp would share additional data with Facebook such as phone numbers, service-related information, IP address, and transaction data. However, WhatsApp has since made it clear that the update does not affect data sharing with Facebook in terms of user chats or profile information, with the new terms instead applying to those who use the business chat feature.
Facebook has said in a statement that it is currently reviewing the information from the Hamburg regulatory agency and “will address their misunderstandings around the purpose and effect of the update.”
To be clear, by accepting WhatsApp’s updated terms of service, users are not agreeing to any expansion in our ability to share data with Facebook, and the update does not impact the privacy of their messages with friends or family wherever they are in the world.
While WhatsApp has shared some user information with Facebook since 2016, chat messages and phone calls remain private and protected via end-to-end encryption.