The 225 million euro fine is the largest ever imposed by the Irish regulator. The company has denounced “grossly disproportionate penalties” and says it will appeal.
This is what the Irish digital authority announced Thursday, September 2, to have imposed on Whatsapp after an investigation requested by the European Commission concerning the protection of personal data.
It is the second highest that a digital regulator imposes in Europe after that of 746 million euros against Amazon in July in Luxembourg for non-compliance with European regulations on the private data of Internet users.
Following its investigation, the Irish Data Protection Authority (DPC) “Fined 225 million euros on Whatsapp”, she announced in a statement. CPD “Also imposed a reprimand” to this subsidiary of Facebook, and enjoined “To comply” with European rules.Article reserved for our subscribers Read also How the European Union intends to domesticate GAFA
The investigation, started in 2018, focused on Whatsapp’s compliance with its transparency obligations under European data protection rules (GDPR), in particular “On the processing of information between Whatsapp and other Facebook companies”.
The European body wanted in particular more information on the use that Facebook wants to make of the data of its subsidiary, and in particular on the possibilities of crossing related to the use of unique identifiers.
The DPC noted in its decision “infringements of a very serious nature” and a “very significant lack of information” provided to the user. A spokesperson for WhatsApp on Thursday denounced “grossly disproportionate penalties”, explaining that the company would appeal.
“Whatsapp is committed to providing a secure and private service. We have worked to ensure that the information we give is transparent and complete and we will continue to do so ”, he added.
