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Germany temporarily bans Facebook from using WhatsApp data

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Posted on 11/05/2021 16:47

    (Attribution: AFP / Olivier DOULIERY)

(Attribution: AFP / Olivier DOULIERY)

A German personal data protection authority on Tuesday (11) ordered Facebook to suspend the use of data transmitted by WhatsApp messaging services for three months following a controversial revision of the privacy provisions on the platform.

The Data Protection Authority of Hamburg (a German city based on the Facebook subsidiary) has issued an order “prohibiting WhatsApp from processing personal data to the extent that Facebook uses Ireland for its own purposes”.

According to German regulator Johannes Caspar, the decision is aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms of millions of users across Germany.

In a response to AFP, WhatsApp assures that this order has “no effect” on the application of the new Terms of Use.

During these three months, the German agency will consider the case to the European Data Protection Committee, a competent body of the European Union.

WhatsApp was forced on Friday to announce that it is postponing the strict application of these new privacy rules, which critics say could expand the data collection of 2 billion users worldwide.

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