A new privacy policy, announced in January, requires WhatsApp users to consent to their data being shared with Facebook.
However, it has been revealed that these new changes will not apply to users in Europe. For them, different data-sharing terms will apply, as confirmed by Director of Policy for WhatsApp, Niamh Sweeney.
WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion (€15.8 billion) currently collects data from its users, including name and phone numbers, the users’ internet connection location, contacts, and status updates.
Users were concerned about their data being transferred to Facebook, which has repeatedly been implicated in alleged breaches of user privacy.
Allegations include widespread data-harvesting, the carrying out of a mood-manipulation experiment on thousands of users, and numerous bugs exposing personal information amongst others.
Data collected under the new policy would ostensibly be used to improve Facebook’s advertising services.
Likely to the relief of users in Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects users from having their data shared with third parties.
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