French Agency Gives WhatsApp One Month To Stop Sharing Data With Facebook
The French data protection agency, Commission Nationale l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has issued an order to force WhatsApp to stop sharing its information data with Facebook. The messaging application company has one month to comply with the order.
According to reports, the order comes after a query was incited when WhatsApp suddenly added to its terms of service last year that they will be sharing data over to Facebook to help make more accurately targeted ads, security measures, and to gather business intelligence. Although the first two purposes were found to be valid by the CNIL, their stipulation on business intelligence was considered to be invalid. As such, CNIL claims that its data-sharing activity with Facebook violates the freedom of its users.
"Privacy is incredibly important to WhatsApp. It's why we collect very little data, and encrypt every message," said WhatsApp in a statement, as reported by The Guardian. "We will continue to work with the CNIL to ensure users understand what information we collect, as well as how it's used. And we're committed to resolving the different, and at times conflicting, concerns we've heard from European Data Protection Authorities with a common EU approach before the General Data Protection Regulation comes into force in May 2018."
In the order, CNIL emphasized that it had repeatedly requested for samples of French users' data that were being shared with Facebook. However, the messaging company failed to comply, citing that they were based in the U.S. and thus only recognizes U.S. government legislation.
As of today, the CNIL can only charge a small fine for companies that may be violating the principles of the data protection agency. However, from May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulations will be enforced, which will allow them to fine up to four percent of global turnover.
Sources:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/18/16792448/whatsapp-facebook-data-sharing-no-user-consent
