Facebook is ordered to stop cashing in in on WhatsApp data: The social media firm says it will appeal the decision

• Facebook acquired the global messaging service WhatsApp two years ago
• In August WhatsApp said it will start sharing users' data with Facebook
• But the German regulator has ruled neither has obtained enough approval
• It said Facebook should delete and stop collecting the personal data

In what could become a landmark case against the social media firm, German regulators ordered Facebook to to delete data it collected from its subsidiary WhatsApp.

Facebook was ordered to stop collecting and storing data of German users of its messaging app WhatsApp and to delete all data that has already been forwarded to it, by a German privacy regulator.

But Facebook said it will appeal against the order.

acebook acquired the global messaging service WhatsApp two years ago.

The company announced in August that WhatsApp would begin sharing the phone numbers of its users with the social network as part of a program to synchronize the two businesses.

But Hamburg's Commissioner for Data Protection ruled that Facebook 'neither has obtained an effective approval from the WhatsApp users, nor does a legal basis for the data reception exist.'  

The regulator said Facebook was infringing data protection law and had not obtained effective approval from WhatsApp's 35 million users in Germany.

'After the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook two years ago, both parties have publicly assured that data will not be shared between them,' commissioner Johannes Caspar said in a statement.

Facebook, the world's biggest social network, bought WhatsApp for $19 billion (£14.6 billion) in cash and stock in an effort to reach a younger audience.

'The fact that this is now happening is not only a misleading of their users and the public, but also constitutes an infringement of national data protection law,' Caspar added.

Facebook has its German headquarters in Hamburg and therefore falls under Caspar's jurisdiction.

'We will appeal this order and we will work with the Hamburg DPA in an effort to address their questions and resolve any concerns,' it said.

The data watchdog said Facebook and WhatsApp were independent companies that should process their users' data based on their own terms and conditions and data privacy policies.

EU and US regulators have said they would scrutinise changes to privacy settings that WhatsApp made in August.

Some campaigners have said the ruling puts pressure on other EU countries to follow suit.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3810020/Facebook-appeal-German-order-WhatsApp-data.html#ixzz4LZl1iNc8
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Source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3810020/Facebook-appeal-German-order-WhatsApp-data.html