WhatsApp sued for collecting and sharing data with Facebook

WhatsApp has been sued in Germany for sharing user data with Facebook. Lately, the messaging platform enabled end-to-end encryption that earned applause from many. But, this lawsuit has been filed due to a change made to the terms and privacy policy, claims a report.

As per the changes made in August 2016, WhatsApp would coordinate with Facebook to a higher level letting the latter track the basic metric of how often people make use of the service and help the fight spam in a better way. WhatsApp also mentioned that if the phone number of the user is connected to his or her Facebook account, the latter would offer better friend suggestions and display more relevant ads.

These changes caused an uproar among users and privacy advocates. In September, Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information had ordered the social network to stop compiling and storing data from all the German users of WhatsApp.

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Now the situation has taken a turn as the Federation of German Consumer Organization has filed a lawsuit looking to end the data sharing. Also, they are looking forward to force Facebook to delete the data that it has received from WhatsApp earlier.

WhatsApp seems to feel that it has complied with the laws and that its updates comply with the EU (European Union) guidelines. We are yet to see what the court will decide. Will it favor WhatsApp and Facebook or turn against them? Only time can answer this question.

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