Facebook has finally bowed down to pressure from privacy watchdogs in Europe and has suspended the collection of user data from WhatsApp.
The decision to halt the user data collection for advertising purposes in Europe was made after Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, was subjected to immense pressure following serious concerns that EU privacy watchdogs raised.
The news comes courtesy of the Financial Times, which revealed on Thursday, Nov. 17, that the social networking site said that it had paused WhatsApp user data collection in Europe for advertising since last week.
"We hope to continue our detailed conversations with the UK Information Commissioner's Office and other data protection officials, and we remain open to working collaboratively to address their questions," noted Facebook.
In August, WhatsApp revealed that it would be sharing user data with Facebook, its parent company which acquired the messaging app in 2014 for 19 billion. WhatsApp disclosed that personal user information such as device information and phone numbers would be used to enhance products and direct ads on the social networking site.
Users of WhatsApp were alerted of the change in policy and had a month to opt out or opt in, or not have access to the messaging app.
In September, we reported that Facebook had been ordered by the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information to stop the collection of WhatsApp users' data in Germany.
A month later, in October, the social networking site came under scrutiny again from privacy watchdogs in the EU. The group of privacy chiefs issued an e-statement to the company, expressing "serious concerns" that Facebook would archive the user data pertaining to users of WhatsApp, as well as use the information in a manner that were not a part of the original service terms when users signed up for the messaging service.
At the time, WhatsApp responded that it was cooperating with the authorities responsible for data protection to work the matter out.
"We remain committed to respecting applicable law," noted WhatsApp at the time.
Facebook does not collect user data in the UK and Germany after being issued warnings. Following the concerns and clashes with data protection officials in Europe in the last month, Facebook had to give in and suspend the collection of data in other European countries as well.
The company's European operations are in Ireland and are regulated by the office of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. The Irish privacy watchdog had affirmed that it is examining the data practices of Facebook with regard to the WhatsApp user data sharing issue.
Photo: Sam Azgor | Flickr
