Procon-SP publicly announced the sending of notification to Facebook about the update of the privacy policy of the WhatsApp instant messaging application. According to the consumer protection agency, the objective is for the technology company to “report in detail about the privacy policy framework to the LGPD […] and the Consumer Protection Code”.
The technology company also reported publicly that the update to WhatsApp’s privacy policy is related to new business features. In this sense, it was reported that such resources relate to: possibility of companies using Facebook message hosting services to reply to customers on Whatsapp, which will give notice in the conversation, so that the user may choose to continue or not the dialogue; permission for user interaction information with ads to be used to personalize the display of ads; authorization for a commercial establishment to add a store to the commercial profile on Whatsapp, ensuring that the user purchases directly from the app the products offered in the store maintained on Facebook or Instagram, at which time the user will be notified that their data will be shared with Facebook .
In this context, Procon-SP requested the technology company to inform “the legal basis for the sharing of personal data”, stressing that if this coincides with consent, it should correspond to “a free manifestation by the user without bias ”. The consumer protection agency also questioned “regarding the different treatment between European and Brazilian consumers, since the protocols for sharing data on European consumers have been changed”.
It is explained that the changes occurred in other jurisdictions involving this technology company are, in general, linked to public commitments signed by the company before regulators in data protection and privacy. It was intended, on those occasions, to make it impossible to share personal data until the procedure could be carried out in accordance with the respective legislation.
Finally, Whatsapp announced on January 15, 2021 that the start of the new privacy policy has been postponed to May 15, 2021, under the justification that the extension in time will help users “have more time to understand the policy ”. The technology company also clarified that “the privacy and security of personal messages and calls remain the same”.
Wilson Sales Belchior
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