Argentina bans Facebook from using personal data of WhatsApp users

Argentina has ordered Facebook to suspend for six months the use of data made available to it by the WhatsApp messaging service.

REUTERS - THOMAS WHITE

Text by: Théo Conscience Follow

4 min

Argentina has decided to crack down on the American social network which wants to share user data between its various applications (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram).

The authorities have requested that the modification of the privacy policy be suspended.  

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From our correspondent in Buenos Aires

, 

Argentina's personal data protection agency has opened an investigation into the intentions of WhatsApp, and its parent company, Facebook.

And the government has ordered WhatsApp's Argentinian subsidiary to suspend updating the privacy policy for six months, or at least until this investigation is completed.

The United States, India, Brazil and Germany have also taken similar steps.

In particular, have taken similar measures.

This modification of the privacy policy is based on two new features.

The one that WhatsApp puts forward first: allowing users to communicate with companies via WhatsApp, and above all allowing these companies to use this information to optimize their advertisements and their services.

Then, and this is where the shoe pinches: this change would automatically allow WhatsApp to share with Facebook, and Instagram, which belongs to the same group, more information. 

The sinews of war: metadata

Facebook will not be able to read messages or listen to WhatsApp conversations, all of this remains encrypted.

But the social network will have access to what is called metadata: phone numbers, the time at which a message is sent, the location or the brand of the phone, for example.

All this information will be used for advertising and commercial purposes.

Facebook could actually have access to this data since 2016, but the user could object to it.

From now on this will no longer be the case, except for Europeans, who are protected by

the general data protection regulation, the GDPR

.

If you refuse to update the application, the application will gradually lose its functionality.

It will initially be impossible to access the list of conversations, and you can only reply to a message by clicking on the notification displayed on reception.

And after a few weeks, it will no longer even be possible to send messages or make calls: the application will therefore be completely unusable.

76% of the country's mobile phones have the WhatsApp application

We can imagine that users will then turn to other instant messaging applications, such as Signal, Telegram, or Viber. This is what many users around the world did last January, when WhatsApp announced this update before pushing it back. But in Argentina, the problem is different: WhatsApp is present on more than three quarters of the country's mobile phones. It is the main communication tool, far ahead of text messages or traditional calls. It is therefore difficult to do without. 

The Argentine government sees this as what could be an “ 

abuse of a dominant position

 ”.

Both for users, who would be de facto obliged to accept these new conditions, but also vis-à-vis Facebook's competitors.

Because with access to all this information, the American social network could find itself in a monopoly situation in the online advertising market.

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Read also: Everything you always wanted to know about the new WhatsApp rules

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