Germany ordered Facebook to stop collecting German WhatsApp user data due to the illegality.
Johannes Caspar, the head of the Hamburg municipal privacy agency, issued a three-month emergency ban. Accordingly, Facebook is prohibited from further data collection. He also asked the European Union data panel to take action and make a ruling in the bloc. WhatsApp’s new provision of data collection is invalid because they are not transparent, inconsistent, and too broad. In a statement on May 11, Mr. Caspar confirmed that the ban aimed at protecting the rights and freedoms of millions of WhatsApp users in Germany must agree to Facebook’s conditions. The German ban hits the heart of Facebook’s business model and advertising strategy. Previously, the country’s antitrust office also criticized the company for its habit of collecting data about users doing online and associated with Facebook profiles. The huge amount of information allows for targeted advertising and brings great revenue to social networks. However, WhatsApp called Mr Caspar’s statements “false” and said the ban could not prevent the new term from being deployed. In the announcement, WhatsApp said that the German authorities’ actions were based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the new term. Facebook faces a wave of protests around the globe because of WhatsApp’s new terms, requiring users to agree by May 15. Mr. Caspar is concerned that Facebook could wrongly handle the data and it is important to prevent data misuse, affecting the September election. Du Lam (According to Bloomberg)
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