Aggressiveness and deliberate ambiguity .. a European complaint may lead to an investigation with “WhatsApp”

Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging app is facing a European complaint after it… Submitting it to new terms To stir up outrage among consumer rights advocates.

The updated policy, in effect since May, remains vague and makes it impossible for users to gain a clear understanding of the consequences of WhatsApp’s privacy policy changes, the European Consumer Association BEUC said in a statement on Monday.

“WhatsApp has been bombarding users for months with aggressive and persistent messages to force them to accept its new terms of use and privacy policy,” BEUC general manager Monique Goines said in the statement. It has been deliberately vague about data processing.”

WhatsApp announced the policy changes in January, but had to delay its implementation until May, due to confusion and users’ angry reaction to the data the messaging service collects from WhatsApp and how it shares that information with parent company Facebook.

The Brussels-based BEUC said it had lodged a complaint with the European Commission and the European Network of Consumer Powers.

This move urges regulators to open an investigation into the practices of “WhatsApp”, and to demand that the terms and services that users have agreed to “through controversial practices are not binding on them”.