UK: WhatsApp sharing user data with Facebook would be illegal

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom’s data protection watchdog, has concluded that WhatsApp’s sharing of user data with its parent company Facebook would have been illegal. The messaging app was forced to pause sharing of personal data with Facebook in November 2016, after the ICO said it had cause for concern. The ICO opened a full investigation into the matter in August that year. Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said her investigation found that “WhatsApp has not identified a lawful basis of processing for any such sharing of personal data” and that “if they had shared the data, they would have been in contravention of the first and second data protection principles of the Data Protection Act.” The ICO said WhatsApp had failed to provide adequate information to users explaining the processing and sharing of their data, and that sharing it with Facebook would require processing that is “incompatible with the purpose for which such data was obtained.” In response WhatsApp has signed an undertaking declaring that it will not share any EU user data with Facebook until the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May. It also stated that it would only share data in accordance with the requirements of the  General Data Protection Regulation after 25 May.