BERLIN, June 5 (Xinhua) -- German automotive parts supplier Continental AG announced on Tuesday that it will prohibit the use of the popular social media applications WhatsApp and Snapchat on company-owned cellphones.
The measure will apply to all of Continental's global destinations and hence affect more than 36,000 cell phones in total.
The Hannover-based company justified the move on the grounds of data security concerns in response to the recent enactment of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) across the European Union.
"We are working towards a goal of zero accidents in road traffic and consequently demand a similar 'Vision Zero' for data traffic," a statement by Continental chief executive officer Elmar Degenhart read. He added that it would "unacceptable" to place the burden of compliance with the new data regulations exclusively on users.
WhatsApp and Snapchat both require users to grant the services access to their digital contact data, including potentially confidential information about third-parties. Under the GDPR, consent must be obtained from all parties involved in order for companies to legally access and store such data.
However, neither WhatsApp nor Snapchat enable users to curtail access by social media applications to potentially sensitive data. The only option for users to legally use the two services would consequently be to ask every contact stored on their phone individually whether they consented to the sharing of their data.
Continental criticized these policies as "not sufficiently reliable and hence practically unsuitable" for everyday use. The company was unwilling to assume any resulting data security risks, either on behalf of employees or business partners, and would instead make use of safer alternatives.
Several major social media and online advertising companies like Facebook and Google face the prospect of legal action and having to pay hefty fines if they fall foul of the stricter data protection standards imposed in the EU by GDPR. WhatsApp was purchased by Facebook in 2014 for around 22 billion U.S. dollars and currently counts 1.3 billion global users.
Nevertheless, Continental noted on Tuesday that it would be willing to reassess the ban on WhatsApp and Snapchat if social media services changed their default settings "in the spirit of data protection."
