German controllers advised Facebook on Tuesday to prevent preparing client information from its texting administration WhatsApp, refering to a security strategy update that could disregard European information assurance rules.
Johannes Caspar, information assurance magistrate in Hamburg, the city where Facebook has its German base camp, given a request prohibiting the online media goliath from preparing German clients' WhatsApp information for a quarter of a year.
"The request is planned to shield the rights and opportunities of the a large number of clients all through Germany who give their agree to the terms of utilization," Caspar said in a proclamation.
"It is critical to forestall burdens and harms related with a particularly discovery strategy."
California-based Facebook said that it is thinking about its lawful choices and plans to offer.
What is WhatsApp's new information strategy?
WhatsApp clients worldwide have been approached to consent to new terms and conditions by May 15 that award Facebook clearing admittance to private information.
The organization, which includes 60 million clients in Germany, is empowering its 1.5 billion clients all around the world to refresh the application as quickly as time permits.
It is part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's drive to monetize WhatsApp after snapping it up for $19 billion in 2014.
But WhatsApp is now competing with rivals like Signal and Telegram, both of whom claim to offer higher levels of privacy and data protection.
The German data watchdog opened proceedings last month over concerns that users were being forced to agree to the update by the deadline or else risk being cut off from the service.
Caspar said the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the data leak that affected more than 500 million Facebook users "show the scale and dangers posed by mass profiling," warning that profiles can be used to manipulate democratic decisions.
"Without the trust of the users, no data-based business model can be successful in the long run," he added,
The Hamburg official urged EU regulators to slap a similar ban across all 27 member states.
How has WhatsApp responded?
WhatsApp hit out at the ruling, denying the update is connected with any expansion of data sharing with Facebook, and emphasizing that the update is related only to messages between businesses and customers.
A company spokesperson slammed the Hamburg order as being "based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose and effect of WhatsApp’s update and therefore has no legitimate basis."
WhatsApp initially tried to introduce the update at the start of the year but backed off after a wave of confusion and misinformation among users, many of whom flocked to rival chat apps such as Signal and Telegram.
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