EU privacy regulators increase pressure on WhatsApp over data sharing

The Irish data protection authority said in April that it hoped to reach a deal in the coming months on the data sharing with WhatsApp.

BRUSSELS: European Union privacy regulators rapped WhatsApp on the knuckles for not resolving their concerns over the messaging service's sharing of user data with parent company Facebook, a year after they first issued a warning.

The popular messaging service changed its privacy policy last year to start sharing users' phone numbers and other information with Facebook. That drew widespread regulatory scrutiny across Europe, and WhatsApp subsequently suspended the data sharing for EU users .