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LONDON – A German regulatory authority has ordered Facebook to stop processing data about its citizens from the WhatsApp news service.
The Hamburg commissioner for data protection and freedom of information (HmbBfDI) announced on Tuesday that he had issued an injunction preventing Facebook from processing personal data from WhatsApp.
Facebook said it was considering how to appeal the order.
Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant has been looking for new ways to monetize WhatsApp, which has been used by around 60 million people in Germany since it was acquired for $ 19 billion in 2014.
WhatsApp users worldwide have been asked to agree to new terms of use and privacy policy. One of the changes focuses on how users interact with businesses on WhatsApp. Information from these conversions can be used for marketing purposes, including ads on Facebook.
WhatsApp users are being asked to agree to the new terms by May 15 if they want to continue using the app, which now competes with competitors like Signal and Telegram.
The majority of users who received the new terms of use and privacy policy have accepted the update, Facebook said.
According to Johannes Caspar, the head of the HmbBfDI, the update is not legal. He issued a three-month emergency order preventing Facebook from continuing WhatsApp data processing in Germany.
“The order is intended to protect the rights and freedoms of the many millions of users across Germany who agree to the terms of use,” he said in a statement. “It is important to avoid the disadvantages and harms associated with such a black box process.”
Caspar said the Cambridge Analytica scandal and data leak that affected more than 500 million Facebook users “show the extent and dangers of mass profiles,” adding that profiles can be used to manipulate democratic decisions.
“The order now placed relates to the further processing of WhatsApp user data,” said Caspar. “The global criticism of the new terms of use should lead to a fundamental rethinking of the consent mechanism. Without the trust of users, no data-based business model can be successful in the long term.”
Caspar also called on a body of EU data regulators to follow suit so that the ban applies to all 27 EU member states.
A WhatsApp spokesman told CNBC that the order of the Hamburg data protection authority against Facebook “is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose and effect of the WhatsApp update and therefore has no legitimate basis”.
They added: “Our recently released update explains the options people have to notify a company on WhatsApp and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data. Since the claims made by the Hamburg Data Protection Agency are incorrect, the order has will not affect the further rollout of Update. We remain committed to providing secure and private communications for everyone. “
Correction: The text in this story has been updated to accurately describe WhatsApp’s new privacy updates.
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