WhatsApp agrees to stop sharing user data with Facebook in Europe

Late last year, France's privacy watchdog had ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with Facebook within a month.

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WhatsApp will not share data with its parent company Facebook unless the data sharing process doesn't violate the EU's upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), TechCrunch has reported. The news comes after WhatsApp submitted the Android beta version 2.18.57 to the Google Play Beta program. The Terms of Services (ToS) of the update shows that the messaging platform will soon start the process of sharing the user data with Facebook.

 
WhatsApp agrees to stop sharing user data with Facebook in Europe

Goes without saying, not everyone was happy with this development. UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) soon started an investigation to see whether or not its legally permissible for WhatsApp to share user's data with Facebook under the UK laws. Well, the ICO report finds out that apart from WhatsApp using Facebook for basic data processing, the platforms can't share any information.

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Late last year, France's privacy watchdog had also issued a formal notice to WhatsApp, asking the messaging app to stop sharing user data with its parent company Facebook within a month. To Mark Zuckerberg's relief, both the France and UK rulings on WhatsApp and Facebook are still just country level. However, when the GDPR comes into effect in May, similar privacy-protecting laws will apply in all the regions under EU.

TechCrunch further notes that WhatsApp is planning to update its privacy policy before the GDPR rolls out. And it will share the details on how will the data sharing process between WhatsApp and Facebook take place.

Facebook had acquired WhatsApp in 2014. On August 25, 2016, WhatsApp had released a new version of its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy where it explained that "from now on, its users' data are transferred to Facebook for three purposes: targeted advertising, security and evaluation and improvement of services (business intelligence).

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