Facebook Inc.'s very own WhatsApp as well as its other messaging services will become the subject of investigation by German regulators. The regulators will check just how the apps handle the personal information of users as to whether sending messages from different providers could possibly boost privacy, according to the story reported by Bloomberg.
Germany's Federal Cartel Office announces investigation
Germany's own Federal Cartel Office stated on Thursday that it has finally opened a sector inquiry straight into different messenger services, citing that there could be possible violations of the consumer protection law. It also stated that the probe might also help these regulators obtain insight into whether the enablement of these apps will send messages towards each other or if it could prompt users to be able to choose services that actually protect their privacy.
The regulator's own president known as Andreas Mundt stated that it is still quite questionable as to whether and to what particular extent do the stated services go to protect users' personal data. The probe is said to also examine as to whether and to what extent could improved interoperability play in this role. The example of users being able to choose suppliers that offer much better data protection was given.
WhatsApp is the most used messaging app in Germany
According to the data presented by Statistica, WhatsApp is actually the most used message app among Germans that are using Android devices resulting in more than about 7 million users every day. Facebook's Messenger also follows about 2.8 million users every day and Microsoft's very own Skype is said to have about 1.8 million users everyday. Facebook, however, has declined to give Bloomberg any comment regarding the investigation.
WhatsApp, as of the moment, only shares very limited information along with Facebook companies in order to help identify users that do not share their data. This would eventually aid the ad targeting work done on Facebook. The company, however, said that it will only share the given data if it has gotten approval from the known Irish privacy regulators who are in charge of governing Facebook's big business in Europe.
Facebook's previous loss
Facebook showed up last on the list of targets from the Federal Cartel Office over a wide antitrust investigation that mainly focused on exactly how the whole social network tracks users' own web use. Facebook, some time earlier this year, has lost a court challenge to a recent 2019 ruling ordering it to immediately stop freely collecting as well as using the given data and eventually combining it along with other Facebook users accounts without their given consent.
The authorities have actually broken new ground by being able to use the antitrust law to eventually tackle data privacy. IT currently has no power under the known consumer law for it to order a company to immediately stop a certain behavior.
Related Article: EU Commission Announces Second Formal Investigation Into Amazon's Alleged Breach of Antitrust Rules
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian Buenconsejo
