WhatsApp Under Fire After Revealing Plans To Share User Data With Facebook
Less than 24-hrs after WhatsApp announced it will start sharing the phone numbers of its users with parent company, Facebook, the messaging service has come under intense scrutiny.
The company said the reason for the change, which for the first time lets the messaging app share its users’ phone numbers with Facebook, is to improve the adverts you see on the social network and allow it to suggest phone contacts as friends.
However, the Information Commissioner of the United Kingdom, has said she will look into the changes WhatsApp has made to determine if it’s is illegal in the UK.
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The move, which has angered many users seems to be a shift for the messaging app, which has long vowed to safeguard the privacy of more than one billion users around the world.
When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion back in 2014 its founder Jan Koum promised users that their data would be protected. “We don’t know your birthday,” he said at the time. “We don’t know your home address. None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we really have no plans to change that.”
“The changes WhatsApp and Facebook are making will affect a lot of people,’ said Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham.
“Our role is to pull back the curtain on things like this, ensuring that companies are being transparent with the public about how their personal data is being shared, and protecting consumers by making sure the law is being followed.
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“We’ve been informed of the changes. Organisations do not need to get prior approval from the ICO to change their approaches, but they do need to stay within data protection laws. We are looking into this.”
WhatsApp is giving users a limited time to opt out of sharing their information with Facebook, although they must take the extra step of unchecking a box to do so. It also says Facebook won’t post phone numbers online or give them out to anyone.
The messaging app has since then faced a backlash of users, as some who don’t want their accounts on the separate apps to be linked in anyway have decided to delete the app in favour of secure apps, such as Telegram and Signal.
