German consumer groups sue WhatsApp over privacy policy changes
WhatsApp's privacy policy change allowing Facebook to target advertising at its users has landed the company in a German court.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBZ) has filed suit against WhatsApp in the Berlin regional court, alleging that the company collects and stores data illegally and passes it on to Facebook, the federation said Monday.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp in October 2014, but it wasn't until August 2016 that WhatsApp said it would modify its privacy policy to allow it to share lists of users' contacts with Facebook. The move made it possible to match WhatsApp accounts with Facebook ones where users had registered a phone number, giving the parent company more data with which to make new friend suggestions and another way to target advertising.
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