European privacy watchdogs warn WhatsApp, Yahoo over data sharing

WhatsApp’s recent change in privacy policy to start sharing users phone numbers with Facebook has attracted regulatory scrutiny in Europe. The Italian antitrust watchdog also announced a separate probe into whether WhatsApp obliged users to agree to sharing personal data with Facebook.

The European Unions 28 data protection authorities said in a statement they had requested WhatsApp stop sharing users data with Facebook until the appropriate legal protections could be assured to avoid falling foul of EU data protection law. A spokeswoman for WhatsApp said the company was working with data protection authorities to address their questions.

The EU data protection authorities also wrote to Yahoo over a massive data breach that exposed the email credentials of 500 million users, as well as its scanning of customers incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials.

The regulators will discuss the Yahoo and WhatsApp cases in November 2016.