Facebook's acquisition of Whatsapp has raised privacy concerns. These concerns were voiced in a complaint made to the Federal Trade Commission, asking it to halt the deal until it has been examined.
According to Reuters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy wrote to the FTC, alleging that Facebook has modified privacy policies of acquired companies in the past. The groups cited Instagram as an example, and demanded that the FTC examine Facebook's ability to access Whatsapp user data of mobile phone numbers. Until then, the groups demanded that the deal be halted.
"WhatsApp built a user-base based on its commitment not to collect user data for advertising revenue. Users provided detailed personal information to the company including private text to close friends. Facebook routinely makes use of user information for advertising purposes and has made clear that it intends to incorporate the data of WhatsApp users into the user profiling business model," reads the complaint, according to BBC.
Bloomberg noted that Facebook has faced privacy policy issues in the past. One of the social media giant's initiatives in 2011 was accused of wrongfully appropriating user data by misleading users. Facebook settled the class action last year, Bloomberg reported.
Facebook, which now has 1.2 billion users, acquired WhatsApp last month in a whopping $19 billion deal. WhatsApp has 450 million users. Bloomberg said that while Facebook has not clearly stated how it would fit WhatsApp into its revenue model, the majority of Facebook's revenue comes from targeted ads based on user data. It also pointed out that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had said nothing would change with Whatsapp after its acquisition.
A statement made by Facebook in response to the FTC filing as quoted by Reuters, said, "As we have said repeatedly, Whatsapp will operate as a separate company and will honor its commitments to privacy and security."
