German regulator halts Facebook’s WhatsApp data plans

A German privacy regulator is ordering Facebook to stop using data from its WhatsApp messaging subsidiary to for its targeted advertisements, despite a company announcement in August that it would do just that. 

Facebook, which purchased WhatsApp two years ago, had previously said it would abide by WhatsApp’s policy to avoid using client data for marketing purposes.  

{mosads}The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information issued an order to Facebook on Tuesday to keep WhatsApp information separate from data on its social media network and delete all data WhatsApp has already shared with its parent company. Facebook’s German-language operations are run out of Hamburg. 

Because WhatsApp was run as a separate entity with a separate terms of service agreement, WhatsApp users had not agreed to Facebook’s terms, said Commissioner Johannes Caspar. 

“It has to be their decision, whether they want to connect their account with Facebook. Therefore, Facebook has to ask for their permission in advance. This has not happened,” he said in a statement describing the order. 

Civil liberties groups sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission last week calling for an investigation of Facebook for violating its promises not to change WhatsApp’s user data policy.