A German regulator has ordered Facebook to stop collecting user data on WhatsApp, whilst also to delete all previously collected data. After Facebook announced in August that it had updated WhatsApp's terms, to allow it to share information with the parent company, concerns were raised as to the effect the new protocols would have on privacy. Johannes Caspar, the data protection commissioner for Hamburg, said that it had to be German WhatsApp users' decision “whether they want to connect their account with Facebook”, but that the company had not asked for this permission. The regulator also added that Facebook had no legal permission to collect the data, noting that the announcement directly broke a promise not to share user data when it bought WhatsApp in 2014. Facebook responded by saying that it “complies with EU data protection law”, and was willing to “resolve any concerns" held by users in Germany.Â
