Facebook may continue not to use data of German WhatsApp users
The U.S. Internet company Facebook may continue to not use the data of German WhatsApp customers for the time being. In a decision published on Thursday, the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court (OVG) confirmed a ruling by the administrative court.
In April 2017, the Hamburg court dismissed the company's appeal against a ban by the Hamburg data protection commissioner in summary proceedings. The dispute is about whether Facebook is allowed to access the personal data of users of the Messenger service, which it bought in 2014. The Hamburg data protection commissioner had prohibited the comparison, so the company has not been allowed to collect and store this data to date.
According to the OVG, it is "open" whether the ban order legally challenged by the company will ultimately prove to be lawful. However, this was "not obviously unlawful" because the consent to the new terms of use and privacy policy requested from WhatsApp users since 2016 "presumably does not comply with German data protection regulations," it further explained.
Under these circumstances, a balancing of interests had to be carried out in the present case. The "interests of German WhatsApp users in the protection of their personal data" outweighed this, the statement said. Urgent proceedings are only about a provisional decision to protect important rights until a final legal clarification is made. This happens in main proceedings. (SDA)
