German consumer group sues Whatsapp over user privacy

News Wireless Germany 31 JAN 2017
German consumer group sues Whatsapp over user privacy

German consumer federation VZBZ has filed a suit against Whatsapp in a Berlin court, alleging the company is illegally storing and passing on client data.

Whatsapp announced in August 2016 that it would modify its privacy policy to allow user data to be shared with Facebook, which acquired the messaging service in October 2016.

VZBZ revealed that it was taking Whatsapp to court over alleged infringements of Germany’s data protection regulations. In particular, VZBZ expressed concern over Whatsapp acquiring contact numbers of non-Whatsapp users from Whatsapp accounts, and sharing this data with Facebook.

VZBZ called for the court to prevent Whatsapp transferring information to Facebook and to delete any previously transferred data. In addition, it objected to eight clauses within WhatsApp’s revised terms of use. 

In September, officials in Hamburg ordered Facebook to stop collecting user data on Whatsapp and delete any information it already held. EU privacy regulators also have requested the data transfers are halted while they investigate compliance with EU data protection laws, and the European Commission is investigating Facebook for allegedly providing misleading information about the data sharing at the time of the WahtsApp acquisition.

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

Facebook,  WhatsApp

Countries:

Germany

Tags:

IT - applications, Consumer, Legislation - Lawsuits

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