Germany orders Facebook to stop collecting WhatsApp user data
by Samuel Gibbs and agencies from on (#1W5FR)
National data protection authority blocks recent privacy changes made by social network and commands existing shared data and phone numbers be deleted for 35 million users
The German data protection agency has ordered Facebook to stop collecting user data from its WhatsApp messenger app and delete any data it has already received.
The social network announced in August that it would begin sharing data from its 1 billion-plus user base, including phone numbers, from WhatsApp users with Facebook for the purpose of targeted ads. It gave users the option of opting out of the data being used for advertising purposes, but did not allow them to opt out of the data sharing between WhatsApp and Facebook.
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