The new WhatsApp terms and conditions will become binding on Saturday. And with it the further processing of data by Facebook. There is a bang from Hamburg.
At the beginning of the year, the messenger service WhatsApp changed its general terms and conditions. After a lengthy discussion and the subsequent postponement of the date to May 15th, that is, this Saturday, they should now be binding.
Facebook wants the data of WhatsApp users
WhatsApp users must therefore agree to the new terms and conditions if they want to continue to use the service in the long term. In doing so, you consent to your data being passed on to Facebook companies and Facebook service providers and processed by them.
On the other hand, the Hamburg commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, Johanes Caspar, issued an order. It prohibits Facebook Ireland Ltd. from “processing personal data from WhatsApp if this is done for its own purposes”.
According to the German press agency, WhatsApp still wants to introduce the update on Saturday. “Since the claims of the Hamburg data protection authority are wrong, the arrangement will not affect the introduction of the update,” dpa quoted a WhatsApp spokesman.
What sounds like a dispute among data protection law experts has tangible and far-reaching consequences for every WhatsApp user. If he does not consent to the further processing of his personal data by Facebook, he will have to look around for another messenger service in a few weeks.
Massive consequences for messenger users
WhatsApp will not immediately block accounts without given consent, but will first send regular reminders of the pending consent to the user’s device. After a few weeks, however, these users should lose access to the app. The accounts would be switched more or less inactive. If a WhatsApp account is inactive for 120 days, it will be deleted.
If, on the other hand, the user accepts the changes in the terms and conditions, he agrees that all his user data will be passed on to Facebook and their service providers. The data collection on this is considerable.
WhatsApp records, among other things, the telephone number, the cellular network, the smartphone model including the operating system, the contacts from the address book and location information. Very different departments on Facebook are interested in this data.
Unclear role of Facebook plant security
As early as 2019, it became known that the Internet group kept a so-called “watch list” on which opponents of the company were recorded. They are largely monitored. Facebook had to admit that in 2019.
Facebook also admitted at the time that the company could locate the current whereabouts of those whose names are on the watch list if necessary: ”If necessary, the analysis can include the location data of the threatening user,” explained a Facebook spokeswoman.
No response from Facebook
Therefore, the ZDF asked Facebook again for what internal purposes Facebook wanted to use the personal data of WhatsApp users. In particular, we wanted to know whether the focus of further processing of this data was on the areas of operational safety and corporate security.
Facebook did not answer this specific question, just referred to their website, which contains specific information about what will happen on May 15th. Facebook spokeswoman Alison Bonny emphasized to ZDF:
It is important to note that this change in terms and conditions in no way extends WhatsApp’s ability to share data with Facebook.
Alison Bonny, Facebook spokeswoman Caspar, the Hamburg data protection officer, wants to bring about a decision on this via the European data protection committee. The extent to which the use of WhatsApp user data by the security departments in the Facebook headquarters would also be affected has yet to be clarified.
