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Nine Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding he axe a WhatsApp privacy policy update due to take effect on May 15, saying that the update would expand sharing of users data and would be particularly detrimental to the Hispanic population.
According to Law36o, Facebook said that the changes were meant to open up new options for users to message businesses on WhatsApp and to provide “further transparency” into how the app collects and uses data.
However, public interest groups and lawmakers have said the update unlawfully enables Facebook to use WhatsApp users’ data for new marketing and direct advertising, without adequately informing users or allowing them to reject the updated terms, Law360 reports. The update has received global pushback.
Representatives Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, Darren Soto of Florida, Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Nydia M. Velázquez of New York, Michael San Nicolas of Guam, Jesús G. “Chuy” García of Illinois, Veronica Escobar of Texas, Linda T. Sánchez of California, and Tony Cárdenas of California all cosigned Tuesday’s letter, which said that Facebook was offering users a false choice: “accept the sharing of metadata with Facebook by May 15th or leave the platform altogether.”
“We believe consumers deserve the option to use WhatsApp knowing that their privacy will be protected the way the founders intended, and the way Facebook promised to uphold,” they wrote.
When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, the company promised that WhatsApp users’ data would not be used for marketing purposes without their consent.
The lawmakers, along with privacy groups, said that Facebook was breaking that promise with the privacy update, which would allow businesses to collect user data through direct chats.
“Users would ‘opt in’ to a chat-like interaction with businesses. A driver behind these interactions would be the data that Facebook has collected on users through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp,” the lawmakers wrote.
They added that the update would disproportionately affect immigrant communities, who are WhatsApp’s largest user base in the U.S.
“Nationally, Hispanic users make up the strongest base at around 32 million people, meaning nearly half of all Hispanic Americans use WhatsApp, compared to around 16 percent of white Americans,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We believe it may be challenging for U.S.-based Hispanics to switch to other social networks because WhatsApp is the primary way for them to connect with relatives and friends in Latin America where the market has tipped — WhatsApp usage is over 85 percent in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.”
In Germany, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information issued a three month order prohibiting Facebook from processing personal data from WhatsApp for its own purposes ahead of the May 15 deadline, Law360 reports.
The agency says that the privacy policy changes violate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, as Facebook doesn’t have a sufficient “lawful basis” for processing the new personal data, and the commissioner intends to bring the case to the European Data Protection Board “in order to facilitate a binding decision at European level,” Law360 reports.
The privacy update isn’t the only data sharing issue Facebook is facing. In April, a Facebook data leak was discovered, which revealed more than 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers, full names, locations, email addresses, and other biographical information.
Do you trust Facebook with your data? Let us know in the comments section!
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10 thoughts onHouse Democrats Urge Facebook to Scrap WhatsApp Privacy Policy Update
I use to use it I felt something was not right
Please add me. I’m Latina and use WhatsApp
I would love to join a class action against facebook for selective discrimination data breeches, hidden and misleading collection of data….they even made me take a video of myself today! Sign me up if possible
Facebook has a platform that has changed quite a lot over the years.
My fiancé and I have both uninstalled Facebook due to too many unwanted ads and the unknowing of what is happening to our info in the hands of these people.
I want to be added!!
PLEASE ADD ME ALSO AND I DO THANK YOU
Add me please
Add me
add me
First listed and posted on Facebook over 7 yrs ago. For years FB has refused to stop billing me for services not requested or received. My direct Friends close to 5k indirectly over 50k mostly Black. As a collective we claim that FB has a clear anti-black bias causing major financial loss. I will join any class action suit when possible.
In what way? Don’t make everything racial without solid evidence. It makes you look ignorant. If you’re prepared to make a statement like that, be prepared to use real information to back your claim. I, for one (of millions), am sick of this nonsense.