Facebook and WhatsApp: German regulations concerning privacy

29

September

2016

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Social media is becoming bigger and bigger. This can be recognized in the number of user of several social media platforms. According a study of Newcom Research and Consultancy, 9 out of 10 Dutch people that are 15 years or older are active on social media. According to Statista, the number of active users of social media network was 2.15 billion in 2015 and it is estimated that this will increase to 2.95 billion in 2020.

tabel 1

Worldwide number active users of social media, and a prediction for the future in number of users in billions

The revenue model of social media platforms is based on the data that this platforms collect from its users. This data can be used for personalized advertising. Worldwide Facebook is the biggest social media platform according to number of users (Statista). However, in the Netherlands Facebook is not the social media platform that is mostly used, WhatsApp is the most used platform(2016).

tabel 2

Worldwide users of social media platforms in active users in millions

tabel 3

Most used social media platforms in the the Netherlands with number of users in millions

In February 2015 Facebook bought WhatsApp for 19 billion dollar to enlarge its position in the industry. At the moment that WhatsApp was acquired, it created more involvement than facebook, was growing with 1 million users per day and it has a young target group. However, the major reason of the acquisition was the information about their users, although WhatsApp only has phone numbers and names of her users. Nevertheless, according to professor José van Dijck it is so-called ‘golden data’. When you install WhatsApp, it downloads your list of contacts, and till the acquisition of WhatsApp, Facebook did not had this data. By connecting the data of both companies, Facebook will become better in selling advertisements.

However, Facebook has to take certain regulations into account. During the acquisition by Facebook, WhatsApp promised that it would not share any information. However last month WhatsApp annouced that it was starting to share some of its users’ information with its parent company, Facebook. Many users expressed anger that their digital privacy could be at risk.

A German regulator now thinks that this digital privacy is at risk. According this regulator WhatsApp is not only misleading its users, but also violating the German privacy laws. Facebook is ordered to stop collecting and storing data of WhatsApp users in Germany. It should be the decision of the German WhatsApp users if they want to connect their account with Facebook. According to Facebook, it complies with Europe’s privacy rules and they are willing to work with the regulator to address its concerns.

In a world where the influence of social networks is growing it is an interesting case to follow. Because in a world where we want to connect with people, we still attach a high value to our privacy and also our digital privacy. This particular case only will affect German WhatsApp users, however it could have a big influence on social media networks in general.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ http://www.newcom.nl/socialmedia2016 http://www.marketingfacts.nl/berichten/social-media-in-nederland-2016-whatsapp-overstijgt-facebook http://www.bndestem.nl/algemeen/economie/facebook-koopt-niet-zomaar-een-app-1.4228989 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/technology/whatsapp-facebook-germany.html?ref=technology

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1 thought on “Facebook and WhatsApp: German regulations concerning privacy”

  1. Dear Johan, very interesting post! I think it is good that governments keep a close eye on what social media companies are doing regarding our privacy, because a lot of social media users never really read the Terms & Agreements. However, I think these companies are gaining access to so many data and they gain so much power, that it is almost impossible for governments to stop data sharing from happening. For example, do the German laws still apply if the user of WhatsApp/Facebook is in another country? I think these laws works best if they are consistent throughout countries, especially throughout Europe. Next to that, governments are also wanting access to certain data, for example the German government wants close surveillance of certain people (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/world/europe/germany-antiterrorism-measures.html?_r=0). In these cases, it would actually be helpful for the German government to work together with Facebook/WhatsApp to track certain people. But then again, how do you choose to track which people and how do you make sure other’s privacy is still respected? I might be going a bit off topic here, but I think the privacy/security debate is very interesting and I am curious to see how this regulation will play out in Germany.

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