Facebook told to halt Whatsapp data sharing by Germany

Germany has banned Facebook from collecting and storing data from Whatsapp users in the country, as well as forcing it to delete all data already currently stored by the social media site.

In August, Facebook announced that it would be sharing data between the two platforms in order to maximise the effect of its targeted advertisements.

Facebook gave users of the messaging app the choice of opting out of the information-sharing for advertising, but not the general sharing between the two services.

Johannes Caspar, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, said that the order was put in place so that the German people could choose whether the information is shared or not.

"There are many millions of people whose contact details were uploaded to WhatsApp from the user's address books, although they might not even have a connection to Facebook or WhatsApp," Caspar said.

"It has to be [the users'] decision whether they want to connect their account with Facebook. Facebook has to ask for their permission in advance."

Facebook has previously been engaged in arguments with Germany and other countries over how it is policed within the European Union, to which Mark Zuckerberg's company have consistently responded that they should follow Ireland's data protection laws, as that is where its European headquarters is situated.