Privacy groups: WhatsApp users don't want Facebook deal

WhatsApp users don't want the social messaging service to be acquired by Facebook, privacy groups told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the agency to investigate the deal.

The privacy groups -- the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy -- added to their plea to the FTC to investigate the $16 billion deal from in early March 2014, citing comments from around the Internet.

"WhatsApp users continue to object to the proposed acquisition" and "believe that companies acquired by Facebook will lose the ability to keep user data private," the groups wrote. They pointed to comments on tech news sites decrying the deal between WhatsApp and Facebook. The comments quoted one Huffington Post user who said she "will most likely" delete WhatsApp if it is purchased by and integrated into Facebook, because the latter "isn't very big on privacy."

The groups added that the FTC's examination of the deal between Facebook and WhatsApp should be more rigorous than its examination of Google's acquisition of Nest, a company that makes algorithm-based home thermostats.