Facebook banned from mixing up WhatsApp and Instagram data by Germany

Facebook can't mix up WhatsApp and Instagram data with its own unless people consent to it, Germany has said. It has also been told to stop taking data from third-party apps and combining that with its own. Facebook collects information from across the internet – including third-party sources as well as its own other apps – and attaches it to users' accounts, in an attempt to build a more accurate picture about them and sell ads. That practise has come under intense criticism, from privacy campaigners and users who argue that it amounts to Facebook following them around the internet without their consent or event knowledge. The company has abused its market dominance to combine user data from a range of different sources, according to the German cartel office, the Bundeskartellamt.