WhatsApp has agreed to not share data with Facebook (its parent company) until the two companies can share the information in a way that both comply with the EU’s upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to a report from TechCrunch.
Previously, UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) an concluded an investigation into both WhatsApp and Facebook to see whether or not WhatsApp could legally share users’ data with its parent company under UK laws. After their investigation, ICO reported that WhatsApp and Facebook cannot share data beyond WhatsApp using Facebook for basic data processing.
France has also ordered Facebook and WhatsApp to no longer share data, demanding that the both companies stop the data sharing within a month. Both UK and France respective rulings are in early cases on a country level. Keep in mind that the GDPR goes into affect in May, and similar privacy-protection rules will be applied across the entire EU.
TechCrunch says that WhatsApp is also in the process of updating its privacy policy prior to the GPDR rollout, and will details how the company will be sharing its data with Facebook moving forward.
