Colombia orders WhatsApp to comply with data protection rules

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2021-05-27 01:30:09

A 3D printed Whatsapp logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Colombia's top consumer protection watchdog on Wednesday ordered messaging application WhatsApp to take measures to protect users' personal data, saying it was violating more than half of the regulations governing such information.

The Superintendency of Commerce and Industry said WhatsApp, owned by social network giant Facebook Inc(FB.O), needed to comply with rules meant to ensure users can know, update and correct information about them held in databases and by companies.

WhatsApp collects data via cookies on at least 39 million active users per month in the Andean country with a population of about 50 million, the regulator said.

WhatsApp should "create a treatment of information policy (PTI) which complies with all the requirements demanded by Colombian regulation," the regulator said. "The PTI should be known to the owners of data who are domiciled or resident in Colombian territory."