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The National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL), which is in charge of protecting data in France, has given WhatsApp an ultimatum. The service will have one month to stop sharing the data of its users with Facebook, a fact that has been happening since 2016. The main objective of this measure is that there is more transparency with the information that is shared between WhatsApp and Facebook. In addition to making people more aware of what it means to expose their data in both services.
Ultimatum to WhatsApp
A WhatsApp has a few days left to comply with the threat. If this is not the case, the CNIL considers establishing an investigation process that could culminate in a sanction. This notice came after the regulator found that WhatsApp has been transmitting data from its French users without their consent. Among them, conversations or phone numbers. The news has had a lot of repercussions, especially considering that there are some 10 million French people registered with the service.
Facebook bought the messaging app in 2014. Two years later it announced it would share information to create more security and targeting. This last point was the one that the CNIL liked least. That's not counting the fact that WhatsApp never notified its users of the data collection. For the CNIL the app is currently violating "the basic freedoms of users".
This wouldn't be the first time a European regulator has taken action against WhatsApp, especially when it comes to data sharing Germany ordered Facebook to stop collecting data from WhatsApp users in September last year. Likewise, in the United Kingdom the social network had to stop collecting user data in November last year.
In May this year, Facebook was fined $122 million by the EU for providing "misleading information" about its acquisition by WhatsApp. The company claimed that it would not be able to link WhatsApp user profiles to Facebook. In September, the EU called on social media platforms, including Facebook, to take urgent action against hateful and malicious comments, threatening an imminent fine if companies failed to comply.We will be aware to inform you of what will happen on this occasion.
