Wasn't one of the conditions to get the deal approved by EU regulators to NOT share any data between services? [0] Did they just restart it because they found reprieve or simply decided to ignore the regulation?

Edit. Also this [1]. Does GDPR suddenly open the door for sharing this data "legitimately"?

[0] https://www.ft.com/content/951d650e-abf5-11e6-9cb3-bb8207902...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/14/whatsapp-...