WhatsApp has agreed to stop sharing data with Facebook (its parent company) until the two companies can do so in a way that complies with the EU’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to a report from TechCrunch.
WhatsApp won’t share user data with Facebook in Europe
The two services will only be able to share data if they comply with the EU’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The two services will only be able to share data if they comply with the EU’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The news comes after the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) concluded an investigation into the two companies to determine whether or not WhatsApp could legally share users’ data with Facebook under UK laws. The ICO report determined that WhatsApp and Facebook can’t share data beyond WhatsApp using Facebook for basic data processing. France has also ordered Facebook and WhatsApp to stop sharing data, demanding that the companies stop within a month. Both the France and UK rulings on WhatsApp and Facebook are still early cases on a country level. But when the GDPR comes into place in May, similar privacy-protecting rules will apply across the entire EU.
According to TechCrunch, WhatsApp is also apparently in the process of updating its privacy policy prior to the GPDR rollout, which will also further detail how it will be sharing data with Facebook going forward.
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