The European Commission, which carries out policies voted by EU...

The European Commission, which carries out policies voted by EU members, is preparing to announce a review of the EU’sePrivacy law later this year, which will include new measures forcing “over-the-top” messaging services to follow the same kinds of rules that telcos do.

Such apps are called “over-the-top” because they literally run on top of the telecommunications infrastructure laid down by telcos like Vodafone. Telcos have long resented how Silicon Valley firms like Facebook could rake in billion of dollars in ad revenue, while paying nothing for access to infrastructure they spent billions to build.

Restricting these apps’ market freedoms could be the next best thing for them. According to internal documents seen by The Financial Times, messaging apps may in future have to follow new “security and confidentiality provisions” laid out by the EU.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2016/08/15/whatsapp-viber-skype-eu-data/#67c0e8d13040