WhatsApp has been ever since it announced a new controversial privacy policy. Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, even faced criticism for forcing users to accept the new policy. It recently extended its May 15 deadline but told users that they will start losing features if they don’t accept the new term. Now Facebook has been asked by a German regulator to stop processing any data from WhatsApp Users. The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, or HmbBfDI has issued an emergency order in this regard. The order prohibits the social media giant’s European operations from processing data from WhatsApp for its own use for three months. There are around 60 million users of WhatsApp in Germany. It said that new policies of WhatsApp are illegal under European privacy law.
Mark Zuckerberg-owned company has been looking for ways to monetize WhatsApp. In January this year, WhatsApp announced a new privacy policy. The new policy of the instant messaging app gives the company more power to share the data of users with its parent company Facebook. The social media giant had acquired WhatsApp for USD 19 billion in 2014. WhatsApp told users that they will have to ultimately accept the new norms if they wish to continue using the app. Some reports suggest that WhatsApp has been sharing some data with Facebook since 2016. But it now wants to share payment and transaction data as well. Due to this privacy policy, its competitors like Signal and Instagram have seen a sudden surge in the number of users.
According to Johannes Caspar of the HmbBfDI, the updates are not legal. “The three-month order has been passed with the intent to safeguard the rights and freedom of millions of WhatsApp users in Germany. It is very important to stop the damage associated with such black box procedure,” he said in a statement. Caspar said that incidents like Cambridge Analytica shows that data of social media users are at risk. Commenting on the order, a WhatsApp spokesperson said that the order has no legitimate basis as it is based on a fundamental misunderstanding. “We are fully committed towards the safety of our users’ data and will continue to private communications for everyone.”
