Marketers will find it harder to target people through messaging apps, after the EU drafted new rules to limit the user data that companies can collect. The new proposed rules will make online messages, email and voice-related services off-limits to marketers if the user has not given explicit permission for their data to be collected. A recent survey found that within markets such as the UK, around half of all internet users use Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, both of which will have to stop storing information. Recent changes in data collection laws have been common in the EU. Added to the increasing legal implications, pressure from various European authorities has even forced Facebook to stop collecting WhatsApp data.Â
