WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook

FRANCE – French data protection agency Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has ordered WhatsApp to cease data sharing with Facebook for ‘business intelligence’ purposes within a month.

Whatsapp facebook crop

CNIL said the social messaging app has no legal basis for transferring user data, such as phone numbers, to its parent company Facebook for ‘business intelligence’ purposes without user consent, the Guardian reported.

In a notice posted on its website, CNIL said WhatsApp had violated its obligation to cooperate with the CNIL under Article 21 of the Data Protection Act, meaning the Commission had been unable to examine the full extent of the compliance of the processing implemented by WhatsApp.

The regulator has asked WhatsApp to comply with the Data Protection Act within one month or face sanctions.

WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, and released a new version of its terms of service and privacy policy in 2016, explaining that data would be shared with Facebook.

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