WhatsApp has been severely punished by an Irish authority for violating the European General Data Protection Regulation. The Facebook group reacts angrily.
Dublin – The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed a record fine of 225 million euros for violating the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The company has violated EU’s strict data protection regulations regarding the transparency of the transfer of personal data to other Facebook companies. The Supervisory Authority has also directed the Messenger service, which belongs to the Facebook group, to change its data processing.
WhatsApp: Proportional Punishment
WhatsApp has announced legal action against the fine. One does not agree with the decision. Punishment is not entirely proportional.
Irish privacy lawyers have never been fined this much before. Across Europe, the fines imposed on Amazon by data protectionists in Luxembourg will only exceed the fine. The Luxembourg Authority fined the Internet group 746 million euros this summer.
The Irish Data Protection Commission DPC oversees not only WhatsApp’s Lead Supervisory Authority in Europe, but the entire Facebook group. She is also responsible for other US tech giants such as Apple, which has their European office in Ireland.
In the first response, data protection activist Max Shrems welcomed the decision in Dublin. However, the DPC has been receiving tens of thousands of complaints a year since 2018, and only now has it imposed large fines. Shrems recalled that the Irish initially only imposed a fine of 50 million euros. “Other European data protection authorities have forced you to increase the fine to 225 million.” Even 225 million euros is still only 0.08 percent of the Facebook group’s turnover, Shrems emphasized. “GDPR imposes fines of up to 4% on sales. This shows that the Irish Data Protection Agency is still extremely dysfunctional.”
WhatsApp surprised Ireland at the decision of the authorities to set aside only .5 77.5 million on the company’s balance sheet for possible fines. “We have worked to ensure that the information we provide is transparent and comprehensive,” said RTE’s WhatsApp spokeswoman RTV, a public broadcaster in the Republic of Ireland.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210902-99-67389 / 2
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