WhatsApp fined Ireland a record fine of 225 million euros

Network World

02.09.2021 15:08, – Print the article Send email

Dublin (dpa) – The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined WhatsApp Ireland a record fine of 225 million euros for violating the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

WhatsApp Ireland will have to pay a hefty fine for violating GDPR. Photo: Christoph Dernbach / dpa / dpa-tmn

The company has violated the EU’s strict data protection rules 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 protection officers in Luxembourg will only exceed the fine. The Luxembourg Authority fined the Internet group 74 746 million 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, since 2018, the DPC has been receiving tens of thousands of complaints a year, and only now has it been fined heavily. Shrems recalled that the Irish initially only proposed a fine of 50 million euros. “Other European data protection authorities have forced you to raise 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 per cent of sales, all of which show that the Irish Data Protection Agency is still extremely dysfunctional.

WhatsApp surprised Ireland by the authorities’ decision to set aside only 77 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, and will continue to do so,” said RTE’s WhatsApp spokesperson for RTE, a public broadcaster in the Republic of Ireland.