WhatsApp messenger owners reject German allegations of transferring user metadata to their parent company Facebook.

Messages can be read only by direct interlocutors, the German publication Handelsblatt quoted the representative of WhatsApp.

Ulrich Kelber, formerly the German government data protection official, warned federal ministries and departments against using this app to share information.

According to him, the transfer of metadata occurs already when sending messages. Kelber called for respect for data protection, rather than neglecting it even in these difficult times when the COVID-19 disease pandemic made it necessary to change the way people communicate in government institutions, DW reported.

WhatsApp was founded in 2009. In 2014, the messenger was acquired by Facebook. Its audience totals over 2 billion people.