Facebook 'pauses' data sharing for WhatsApp UK customers after privacy watchdog threatens legal action

The messaging service WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in 2014
Earlier this year the companies announced they would begin sharing data
EU privacy watchdogs said the companies had not obtained valid consent
Now Facebook has suspended using WhatsApp customers' data in the UK

By Reuters and Abigail Beall For Mailonline

Published: 16:41 EST, 7 November 2016 | Updated: 05:20 EST, 8 November 2016

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Earlier this year, WhatsApp started 'coordinating' accounts with Facebook by sharing users' mobile phone numbers.

This subtle but significant change was met with opposition from privacy watchdogs around Europe, who suggested WhatsApp had not obtained valid consent from its customers.

Now, in an important step, Facebook has agreed to suspend using data collected from UK WhatsApp users for advertising purposes, after the threat of legal action.

European watchdogs have sent letters to WhatsApp over of its sharing of information with parent company Facebook. This was its first change in policy since Facebook bought the messaging service two years ago

WHATSAPP'S DATA SHARING

WhatsApp, acquired by Facebook in 2014, said it would share user data with its parent company to better fight spam and improve users' experiences of both services .

The move was a subtle but significant shift for the messaging app, which has long promised to safeguard the privacy of more than one billion users around the world.

In September WhatsApp started 'coordinating' accounts with Facebook by sharing users' mobile phone numbers.

The two share device information, such as the type of operating system and other smartphone characteristics.

Facebook uses the phone number internally to better identify WhatsApp users on Facebook.

This means it can recommend friends or show targeted advertising.

The ads come through a Facebook program called 'Custom Audiences'.

The UK privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced the news yesterday.

In August, the ICO said it would monitor WhatsApp's new privacy policy.

WhatsApp had started to share user data with its parent company, to better fight spam and improve users' experiences of both services, it said.

This was its first change in policy since Facebook bought the messaging service two years ago.

The two companies have also come under scrutiny from the European Union's 28 data protection authorities, who last month requested WhatsApp pause sharing users' data with its parent company until the appropriate legal protections could be assured.

'We're pleased that they've agreed to pause using data from UK WhatsApp users for advertisements or product improvement purposes,' the head of the ICO, Elizabeth Denham, said in a statement.

'If Facebook starts using the data without valid consent, they may face enforcement action from my office.'

The regulator said it had also asked Facebook and WhatsApp to sign an undertaking committing to better explaining to customers how their data would be used and to give them ongoing control over that data.

So far, the companies have not agreed.

'We think consumers deserve a greater level of information and protection, but so far Facebook hasn't agreed,' Denham said.

'WhatsApp designed its privacy policy and terms update to give users a clear and simple explanation of how the service works, as well as choice over how their data is used,' a Facebook spokesperson told MailOnline.

'These updates comply with applicable law, and follow the latest guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office.

'We hope to continue our detailed conversations with the ICO and other data protection officials, and we remain open to working collaboratively to address their questions.'

Denham said she did not think users had been given enough information about what Facebook would do with their data and that WhatsApp had not obtained valid consent.

A recent Amnesty report, published last week, ranked 11 companies that run the world's most popular messaging apps, including Skype, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger

MESSAGING APPS' PRIVACY

In a report published last week, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were declared the most secure messaging apps to use, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

However, security experts dispute exactly how safe they are.

The Amnesty report ranked 11 companies that run the world's most popular messaging apps, including Skype, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger.

The human rights charity looked at how the firms protect users' privacy and their freedom of expression.

The organisation based its rankings not on testing, but on privacy and security information that it requested from the 11 tech firms.

From those approached, three of the firms - BlackBerry, Google and Tencent - did not respond, says Amnesty.

Several other European privacy watchdogs, such as Spain's, have said they intend to contact Facebook about WhatsApp's privacy policy change but have not yet done so.

Facebook suggested it would be inappropriate to agree on a specific solution with one regulator before receiving all the others' questions.

Enforcement action could ultimately lead to fines. Such fines are small compared with the revenues of the companies concerned.

However, a new EU-wide data protection law coming into force in 2018 would change that with fines of up to 4 per cent of global turnover.

Denham said she would keep pushing the issue along with other privacy watchdogs, notably the Irish authority, which has the most sway over Facebook, since the US company's European headquarters are in Ireland.

Facebook says the data WhatsApp collects is extremely limited and only a part of what is then shared with Facebook.

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were declared the most secure messaging apps to use, according to a new report by Amnesty International, but Electronic Frontier Foundation thinks the apps could be more secure