Germany to ban Facebook from collecting Whatsapp data
Facebook is set to be banned from collecting user data from Whatsapp in Germany.
Officials have judged that the controversial move to compel users to connect their Whatsapp and Facebook accounts has breached data protection rules.
The data protection commissioner for the city of Hamburg has told Facebook to delete all the account information which it has already received from Whatsapp users - including individuals’ phone numbers.
Facebook has said that it will appeal against this order - it’s argued that Whatsapp data will be used to try to make the ads that appear on Facebook more relevant to users.
The social media giant bought WhatsApp in 2014 - paying $22bn.
