The European Union is usually pretty tough on US tech companies, so some are cautious when problems arise. This is the case of WhatsApp, which will not share its users' data with Facebook in Europe… for now. Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, has decided to delay the decision for a while.
For example, some time ago the European Union demanded WhatsApp to allow calls to 112, the emergency number. And, shortly after the sharing of WhatsApp data with Facebook became mandatory (at first it was optional), both the European authorities and the respective states began to investigate the company.
The UK recently banned the sharing of this data, so now WhatsApp stops sending information to Facebook across the continent. Apparently the company wants to respond to the authorities' concerns first, and then will try again. Although we already know that bureaucracy is always very slow.
In any case, we must not forget that the European Union sentenced Apple a few months ago to return a whopping 13,000 million euros in taxes that it evaded. Therefore, it is normal that Facebook wants to proceed with caution to avoid fines and other legal problems, such as the blockages of the service that it has suffered in Brazil.
The European Union has long placed limits on sending data to other countries, and it seems that it continues to be concerned about the issue. Authorities are concerned about the lack of details about what Facebook is going to do with the data it gets from WhatsApp, and they doubt that the consent that users have given is valid.
For now, WhatsApp will not share user data with Facebook in Europe But it is still their desire to do so, and will surely try again later. Of course, it is possible that the conversations with European officials end in some kind of agreement on how to approach the process.
What do you think of this topic? Do you think that Facebook is going too far in wanting to access the information of WhatsApp users?
