In January this year, the Facebook-owned messaging app introduced new data-collection terms for when users interact with businesses on the platform. People were originally given until the next month to accept the terms, before a massive public backlash forced Facebook to extend this to May before features of the app would start becoming unavailable.
The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), which represents consumers in the EU, has now filed a complaint with the European Commission regarding what it claims is a breach of EU consumer rights.
“For several months now, WhatsApp has been unduly pressuring its users to accept its new terms of use and privacy policy. Yet these terms are neither transparent nor comprehensible for users,” the body said.
The complaint is first due to the “persistent, recurrent and intrusive” nature of notifications pushing users to accept the new policy updates, which impairs their freedom of choice. This is a breach of the EU...