WhatsApp announced last month that it’s going to share user data with Facebook to improve marketing and ad targeting. Shared data includes last seem time as well as users’ phone numbers. It was a surprising move because when WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook, its founder had claimed that nothing would change for users after the acquisition. That’s no longer the case now. WhatsApp has gone back on its word and the German city of Hamburg is having none of it. The city’s DPA has issued a national order against WhatsApp to make it stop sharing data with Facebook.
The Hamburg DPA feels that WhatsApp has misled users and has committed a breach of the national data protection law. It’s able to issue a national order against the company because Facebook has a branch office located in Hamburg. The city’s data protection commissioner Johannes Caspar has ordered Facebook to delete any data it has harvested from Germany’s 35 million+ WhatsApp users and to immediately stop collecting more data as Facebook has not obtained permission from WhatsApp users for this.
WhatsApp sought user consent by pushing a notification about updated terms and conditions. The notification included a toggle which allowed users to opt out of sharing their data with Facebook. Caspar accused Facebook of also obtaining millions of phone numbers from WhatsApp users’ contact lists of people who may never have signed up for Facebook or WhatsApp.
A spokesperson for Facebook has said that the company is going to appeal this order. “Facebook complies with EU data protection law. We will appeal this order and will work with the Hamburg DPA in an effort to address their questions and resolve any concerns,” the spokesperson added.