Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp was ordered to pay a 225 million EUR penalty for failing to be transparent about how it handled personal information, its first fine under European Union data protection law.
The Irish Data Protection Commission said it found violations in the way WhatsApp explained how it processed users’ and non-users’ data, as well as how data was shared between WhatsApp and other Facebook companies.
The fine comes weeks after Amazon.com Inc. was hit with a record 746 million EUR penalty in Luxembourg, where it has its European base, for processing personal data in violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
The Irish authority said that it would also order the messaging service to take remedial action to bring its data processing communication into compliance. This includes making it clearer how users can lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.
This fine also comes amid added pressure on WhatsApp over policy changes it announced in January. It was forced to delay the overhaul until May after a backlash from users and regulators over what data the messaging service collects and how it shares that information with its parent Facebook.
The European Data Protection Board said in July that Facebook’s practices linked to WhatsApp data should be examined “as a matter of priority” by the Irish privacy watchdog.
The Irish authority in turn said it would consider any regulatory follow-up where needed, but that its most advanced WhatsApp probe had already included “an in-depth inquiry into WhatsApp’s privacy policy
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Source: reuters.com