Facebook – who bought WhatsApp back in 2014 - may soon start using the data provided on the platform to target ads. The company is currently in talks with European regulations to gain access to user information this year. In other words, since Facebook already has access to user’s mobile phone numbers, the social-media giant plans on using it to target ads.
However, EU privacy watchdogs suggest that the companies have not obtained a valid consent from its customers yet and therefore, won’t be allowed to carry out this activity.
On the contrary, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said that the European Union might change its mind. “I think we are in agreement with the parties – WhatsApp and Facebook – that the quality of the information provided to users could have been clearer, could have been more transparent and could have been expressed in simpler terms,” Helen told Reuters in an interview.
“We are working towards a solution on that,” she added.
