The Data Protection Commission of Ireland has fined her $ 225 million for data processing violations. However, the sanction came after the intervention of the European Union. All details

The Personal Data Protection Authority of Ireland Affected WhatsApp to pay 5 225 million in fines for certain violations of GDPR’s European regulation on privacy protection from 2018 onwards.

What’s good about WhatsApp?

In a statement, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) spoke of WhatsApp’s “serious” breach of transparency in the use of user data in its instant messaging service. The violations are related to “information provided to data topics about the processing of information between WhatsApp and other Facebook companies”. WhatsApp acquired Facebook in 2014 for $ 19 billion.

In text The DPC ruling states that WhatsApp provided users with only 41 percent of the specified information. Non-users on the other hand – that is, WhatsApp users can transfer messages sent to other apps to the platform – have not received any information, so the right to control their personal data could not be exercised.

DPC Commissioner Helen Dixon said the violations “go to the heart of the general principle of transparency and the fundamental right to protect an individual’s personal data, derived from the individual’s free will and autonomy to share.

Violations by WhatsApp affect the number of “very high” people.

Importance of Fine

The DPC is the largest fine imposed by the authority, and the second largest fine imposed on a technology company for violating European privacy laws: 746 million The Luxembourg Data Protection Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon last July.

What DPC does

Although the Data Protection Commission is headquartered in Dublin, it has jurisdiction over the entire European Union, as it regulates the entire business blockade of all major European technology companies headquartered in Ireland, where the tax system is more favorable. .

The The guard Other European monitoring authorities believe the Irish agency lacks sufficient resources, is slow to act against privacy violations and is soft on sanctions. Although the fine on WhatsApp is substantial, it is not certain that the DPC has decided to change its approach: last year, at the end of an investigation into WhatsApp, it actually suggested a 30 to 50 more moderate fine. Million euros ..

If the fine reaches 225 million, it is due to the intervention of the regulatory authorities of the other eight EU countries, which led to the initiation of a dispute resolution mechanism and the subsequent intervention of the European Committee on Data Protection (EDPB). In July, a committee monitoring compliance with GDPR issued an order asking the Irish Commission to increase fines.

The Irish DPC still has fourteen major inquiries on Facebook and its affiliates, Instagram and WhatsApp.

What WhatsApp said

WhatsApp called the amount of the fine “absolutely disproportionate” and said it would appeal.

In a statement, the company said, “We are committed to providing a secure and private service. We have worked to ensure that the information we provide is transparent and complete, and will continue to be so. We disagree with today’s decision regarding the transparency we gave to the people in 2018, and the fines are completely disproportionate.

A quarter of the global population uses the WhatsApp app 2 billion users Worldwide in February 2020: Facebook has 2.5 and Instagram (but this figure is in June 2018) has 1.