After UK and Germany, WhatsApp stops data sharing across Europe

WhatsApp had its fair share of legal problems recently. Government officials in both the UK and Germany made the team behind the popular app stop sharing user information with its parent company – Facebook – due to security concerns.

The messaging app shared information, such as phone numbers, photos, profile names and other user identifiable info with Facebook, so it can test new features for businesses. Naturally, watchdogs across the globe were not happy with the new WhatsApp Terms of Service and pushed for a change, despite the reassurances by the team behind the messaging app that information will be encrypted and unreadable by Facebook and WhatsApp employees.

Now, the already infamous data sharing practice will probably be put on ice across the entirety of the EU, until the matter is resolved. “We hope to continue our detailed conversations with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and other data protection officials,” Facebook officials told The Financial Times. “We remain open to working collaboratively to address their questions.”

Facebook's public image has taken a few hard knocks the past few months. They were publicly criticized for the fake news on their platform around the election and the data sharing issue has stretched out in time already. So a legal battle with the EU is probably the last thing the company wants. It appears that Zuck and company are willing to cooperate with officials, until a mutual agreement is found, though.

via TheVerge