A German privacy watchdog has issued an injunction to prevent Facebook from collecting data from WhatsApp users, whose new terms are said to violate the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Facebook collects user data in violation of German ban
Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Security and Freedom of Information Johannes Caspar has said he has issued a three-month ban to prevent Facebook from processing WhatsApp user data for its own purposes, Apple News reported. He said, “The ban is intended to protect the tens of millions of Whatsapp users in Germany from black-box operating procedures that would disadvantage or harm them.”
WhatsApp introduced new privacy terms at the beginning of the year to share user data with parent company Facebook, once triggering a major move by users to settle on other platforms such as Signal. After that, WhatsApp announced to “suspend” the effective date of the new terms until May 15. Recently, many users have received a notice when they open WhatsApp, once users do not accept the terms, SMS, calls and other functions will be gradually deactivated, however, the account will not be removed.
To stop Facebook from collecting information from WhatsApp users, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Security and Freedom of Information launched an emergency procedure last month. Kasper warned that there are more than 60 million WhatsApp users in Germany and that voters could be influenced through Facebook ads during the general election this September. He said he would refer the case to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for arbitration.
Kasper’s office pointed out that WhatsApp’s new privacy policy allows Facebook to access more information about WhatsApp users, but the policy is too broad and opaque.
How much user data does Facebook collect?
According to a May 6 report by CNBC, Facebook and encrypted communication tool company Signal recently had a dispute over an advertisement.
On May 5, Signal said in a blog post that Facebook blocked an ad it was running on Instagram. And Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The ad, designed to show Instagram users how much user data Instagram, and parent company Facebook, collects.
In this story, Signal writes: “We’ve created a multivariate targeted ad designed to show you the personal data Facebook collects about you and to sell that data.” “The ad will simply display some of the information collected about the viewer that will be used by the advertising platform.”
Here’s a sample ad Signal showed. “You received this ad because you are a teacher, but more importantly, you are a Leo (and single). This ad takes advantage of your location and sees you in Moscow. You like to support sketch comedy, and this ad thinks that you are a runner.”
Signal said Facebook did not like the disclosure of its “user data collection” practices, and as a result, Signal’s ad account was disabled by Facebook.
However, a Facebook spokesperson responded on May 5 that Signal never tried to run those ads. The two social giants are engaged in a war of words.
What do the WhatsApp softwares developers say?
Signal was funded by Brian Acton, the entrepreneur who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion, making him a billionaire.
Acton left Facebook and WhatsApp in 2017, and later said Facebook was preparing to display targeted ads and promote business messages in WhatsApp.
In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Acton tweeted, “It’s time to delete Facebook (#deletefacebook).”
Cambridge Analytica data scandal
In 2018, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, revealed in interviews with The Guardian and The New York Times that Facebook had accessed millions of users’ personal information without their consent, and that the data was used primarily for political advertising. After the news came to light, Facebook apologized for illegally collecting user data, and in addition, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to go to the U.S. Congress to be questioned.
In July 2019, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Facebook had to pay a $5 billion fine for privacy violations, and in October 2019, Facebook agreed to pay a £500,000 fine to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
The Cambridge Analytica data scandal has sparked public concern about social media compromising personal privacy, so much so that a #DeleteFacebook campaign was launched on Twitter. The Russell Brothers then made a film based on the scandal, which starred Paul Pitney.
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