Facebook says it will cut off Irish users from using WhatsApp in the coming weeks if they don’t sign a controversial new privacy policy that opens the door to interaction with Facebook and local businesses.
WhatsApp is Ireland’s main texting service and is used by 80pc of Irish adults.
Facebook is currently not allowed to share WhatsApp user data with Facebook under EU privacy law.
But the tech giant now says that if users here don’t agree to a new rule that lets businesses on Facebook interact with WhatsApp users, they won’t be able to continue using the service.
“After a few weeks of limited functionality, you won’t be able to receive incoming calls or notifications and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to your phone,” the giant warns.
Facebook has set a deadline of this Saturday (May 15th) to agree to the privacy update. But it says it will allow users “weeks” after that to agree, during which they’ll receive “persistent” messages reminding them of it. After weeks of these “persistent” messages, Facebook will cut the service’s main functions off.
The social media giant says that most users have already agreed to the new privacy update.
The new rule has proved controversial across Europe. It opens it up to businesses on Facebook that want to connect WhatsApp users.
Yesterday, one of Germany’s biggest data protection regulators, Hamburg’s Johannesburg Caspar, said that it viewed the messaging app’s new terms of use as illegal.
A spokesperson for the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, which is Facebook’s lead regulator in Europe, says that it is monitoring the situation.
“We understand that Facebook would act as a processor on behalf of businesses and that a WhatsApp user’s engagement with these services would be optional,” a spokesperson told the Irish Independent. “It is important to distinguish between Facebook acting as a data processor to WhatsApp Ireland and other businesses, and the sharing of data between WhatsApp Ireland and Facebook on a data controller to controller basis.”
Facebook says that it is going ahead with the update regardless of interpretations, insisting that its new privacy policy doesn’t amount to sharing data between WhatsApp and Facebook.
It says that the German regulator is wrong in interpreting the update as an ability to share data between WhatsApp and Facebook.
“The updates related to optional business features are a part of our broader efforts to make communicating with a business secure, better, and easier for everyone,” the company says.
But Facebook admits that the update will allow direct interaction between Facebook and WhatsApp, leading to personalisation of ads.
“Often people discover businesses on Facebook or Instagram from ads that show a button you can click to message them using WhatsApp,” it says. “Just like other ads on Facebook, if you choose to click on these ads, it may be used to personalise the ads you see on Facebook.”
It also says the update will spur more interaction between WhatsApp and Facebook for shopping.
“Some businesses with a shop on Facebook or Instagram can also have shops on their WhatsApp business profile,” the company says. “This [update] allows you to see a business's products on Facebook and Instagram and shop from it directly in WhatsApp.”
It adds that WhatsApp and Facebook “cannot see the content of any end to end encrypted messages”.
The Irish regulator previously stopped Facebook from implementing an update to WhatsApp that would have seen the messaging app share data with Facebook for the purposes of ads.
Facebook says that it has abided by this ruling but is still looking for ways to do it. However, its website says: “should we choose to share such data with the Facebook Companies for this purpose in the future, we will only do so when we reach an understanding with the Irish Data Protection Commission on a future mechanism to enable such use.”
A spokesperson for the Irish data regulator added: “WhatsApp has stated that users are being required to agree to the new terms of service as a means for WhatsApp Ireland to obtain contractual acceptance to the latest version of its contractual terms. WhatsApp has stated that is not seeking to obtain consent to data processing.”
The spokesperson said: “WhatsApp has on numerous occasions provided written assurances to the DPC and other EU Supervisory Authorities that Facebook is not permitted to and does not use WhatsApp user data for Facebook’s own purposes, particularly for the purposes of platform safety and integrity, product development and ad serving.”
On the question of German regulators taking independent action against the WhatsApp update, the Irish DPC spokesperson said: “as Hamburg has initiated its Article 66 procedure as a derogation to the One Stop Shop, it is a matter for the Hamburg DPA to respond as to how it meets the threshold to initiate an urgency procedure. The lawful basis WhatsApp Ireland relies on to process personal data is the subject of an ongoing inquiry and the Irish DPA draft decision in relation to WhatsApp will be dealt with through the Article 65 dispute resolution procedure under GDPR, since it was not possible to reach consensus among DPAs. Therefore it is for the Hamburg DPA in that latter context to qualify its own actions under Article 66 as a derogation to the OSS procedure already underway.”
