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Fluffeh writes:

"Facebook is drawing loads of attention that it probably doesn't want. Both the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy have filed FTC complaints. They bring up that WhatsApp has always stated that it wants nothing to do with customer data. Comments like "We have not, we do not, and we will not ever sell your personal information to anyone. Period. End of story," from founder Jan Koum back in 2009 bring that home quite strongly. Facebook on the other hand... well... you know... we all know.

Today's complaint asks that the FTC figure out whether the acquisition will be in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits "deceptive trade practices," a category that can include companies that don't follow their published privacy policies. If WhatsApp started collecting and giving data to Facebook without updating its privacy policy, that could certainly qualify as a violation. Since the transaction hasn't yet been cleared, there is still time. Likewise, promising no changes now doesn't mean WhatsApp can't shift its position on customer data to clear itself for handing the information over to Facebook later."