Data protection officials across Europe have "serious concerns" with the way WhatsApp told its users their personal details, including phone numbers, would be shared with Facebook.
In August, the one-billion-member messaging app announced changes to its privacy policy that would allow it to share customer information with parent-company Facebook.
In response to the changes, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (W29), which is part of the European Commission and has representatives from each EU state, has written to WhatsApp founder Jan Koum to ask it to not share data with Facebook at the moment.
The letter, signed by Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, the chairman of the group, says WhatsApp shouldn't share personal data with Facebook "until the appropriate legal protections can be assured".
"Great uncertainty" has been created in the minds of WhatsApp and Facebook users, the letter says. It reads: "The Article 29 Working Party (WP29) has serious concerns regarding the manner in which the information relating to the updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy was provided to users and consequently about the validity of the users’ consent.
Falque-Pierrotin continued to say a working group of W29 would look at the privacy policy changes to determine whether the changes are in line with European data protection rules. The letter was first published by CNIL, the French data protection regulator.
The group, which includes the UK's data protection regulator (the Information Commissioner's Office), also has "questions" about the "control mechanism" that were presented to WhatsApp customers that allowed them to "exercise their rights and the effects that the data sharing will have on people that are not a user of any other service within the Facebook family of companies".
W29 has asked WhatsApp to send it information on the data that will be shared and the sources of the data ("e.g. data from the users’ phones or data already stored on company servers") and those who will receive the data.
According to W29, the changes to the policies have altered the "purposes" of which WhatsApp collects data for from when "existing users signed-up to the service."
“We’re working with data protection authorities to address their questions,” WhatsApp said in a statement first sent to Bloomberg. “We’ve had constructive conversations, including before our update, and we remain committed to respecting applicable law.”
On August 25, WhatsApp changed its privacy policy to allow more data to be shared with the "Facebook family of companies". This includes the social network and other apps such as Instagram and Facebook's Messenger.
In the updated guidelines, WhatsApp said mobile phone numbers of users will be shared to help provide targetted adverts to people.
"While WhatsApp will continue to operate as a separate service from Facebook, we plan to begin sharing some information that will allow us to coordinate more in the months ahead and improve experiences across services," WhatsApp said in a statement at the time of the changes.
Since the alterations, which members had to specifically opt-out of when they next sent a message on WhatsApp, there has been a backlash to the changes; not just in Europe but around the world.
The US's Federal Trade Commission is also looking at the changes to the privacy policy. A letter sent to privacy groups the FTC said it would "carefully review" complaints about the sharing.
In the UK, the ICO has said it is also investigating the processing of personal information. "Some might consider it'll give them a better service, others may be concerned by the lack of control," the information commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in August. A Freedom of Information request from WIRED to the ICO showed the body has "not received any complaints" on the change in arrangements but highlight that the issue was first discussed by W29 on September 27-28.
At the end of September officials in Germany ordered Facebook to stop gathering user data. It also said all data already connected should be deleted
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