WhatsApp faces EU taskforce over sharing user data with Facebook

Article 29 Working Party steps up action over user consent and privacy following Facebook's failure to address breaches of EU law

The European Union's data regulator group is again focusing its attention on WhatsApp for the messaging app's sharing of user data with parent company Facebook, launching a taskforce to implement "a clear, comprehensive resolution" to comply with EU law.

The taskforce has been set up by the pan-European data regulator, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), a year after it first issued a warning to the chat app over its sharing of user data with the wider group of Facebook companies, forcing it to pause data transfer. The taskforce will be lead by the UK's information commissioner office.