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Facebook pauses sharing WhatsApp user info with Hong Kong authorities
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Facebook pauses sharing WhatsApp user info with Hong Kong authorities

Facebook and its popular WhatsApp messaging service are putting a hold on what information they share with Hong Kong law enforcement.

International

The company said it will review China's new National Security Law, which went into effect Tuesday and is widely seen as a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Facebook and its popular WhatsApp messaging service are putting a hold on what information they share with Hong Kong law enforcement, as the company reviews a sweeping new security law from Beijing.

Twitter had similarly paused such sharing last week, a company spokesperson said Monday.

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China's National Security Law, which went into effect Tuesday, is widely seen as a crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters. The law bypasses Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status and will grant Beijing the ability to create special police units to target the city's “troublemakers.”

Like all major American tech companies, WhatsApp and Facebook respond to legal requests from countries around the world if they meet certain criteria. WhatsApp automatically uses end-to-end encryption, meaning the company is unable to see the contents of its users' conversations. It does, however, regularly share users' metadata, like location data and call dates and times, when law enforcement requests it.

But the company is putting a pause on that practice when it comes to Hong Kong.