Blow for Facebook’s online shopping plans as EU privacy laws block Messenger chat features

One example of how the changes will affect Messenger

Credit: ChatLayer

More than 175m people already use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and Facebook has launched shopping services on Instagram and Facebook that integrate with Messenger in the last year.

Only this week, the company announced it was buying customer service chatbot company Kustomer, in a deal reportedly worth $1bn (£750m).

The changes effectively undo much of the work Facebook has done to make its service more attractive to businesses, limiting businesses to communicating via text, pictures and hyperlinks. The company said it hoped to find a way around privacy laws to relaunch them.

"We’re updating our messaging services in response to new privacy rules in Europe," Facebook said. 

"While some messaging features will be unavailable, the majority of features on Messenger and Instagram will continue to be available for businesses and developers and people interacting with businesses in Europe. We understand that compliance requires changes to our product experiences, and we’re committed to supporting our partners throughout this process."