Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Johannes Kaspar, has imposed an emergency ban on data collection for three months
A regulator in Germany has banned Facebook from collecting data from German WhatsApp users. This was reported by Forbes with reference to Bloomberg.
The agency called the company’s attempt to force users to agree to the updated terms of use for the application illegal.
Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Johannes Kaspar has imposed an emergency ban on data collection for three months, the agency said. He also asked regulators in other EU countries to take similar measures. Kaspar is confident that the new WhatsApp terms are opaque, controversial and overly ambitious.
The order hits Facebook’s business models and advertising strategies. A WhatsApp spokesperson called Kaspar’s claims “flawed” and said the order would not stop the implementation of the new policy. The regulator’s actions are “based on a fundamental misunderstanding” of the objectives and effectiveness of the upgrade, the messenger said.
The American tech giant may already be illegally processing user data, Kaspar said. He also noted that preventing data misuse is especially important ahead of the elections to be held in Germany in September.
As previously reported, WhatsApp announced the introduction of new rules in January this year. Initially, it was supposed to apply the new rules for using the messenger on February 8, but due to the wide public outcry, WhatsApp management postponed the introduction of the new data privacy policy to May 15.
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