WhatsApp fined £193m by data protection watchdog
WhatsApp has been ordered to pay a €225m (£193m) fine under a European data protection law.
Facebook owned messaging platform has been accused of failing to be transparent about how it handled user data by the Irish Data Protection Commission.
The data protection watchdog announced the decision today saying that WhatsApp had failed to adequately explain how it processed users’ and non-users’ data, as well as how data was shared between WhatsApp and other companies, a “serious impairment” of their rights.
Whatsapp disputed the accusation and plans to appeal the decision. “We disagree with the decision today regarding the transparency we provided to people in 2018 and the penalties are entirely disproportionate,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said.
Under GDPR laws, authorities have the powers to issue fines for as much of 4 per cent of a company’s annual salary.
When the investigation into WhatsApp Ireland was initially conducted a fine of €30-50m was initially proposed by the Dublin-based regulator. However, in late July the Irish watchdog was told to up the fine by the European Data Protection Board which demanded stronger action.
In addition to the imposition of an administrative fine, the Irish Data Protection Commission has also imposed a reprimand along with an order for WhatsApp to bring its processing into compliance by taking remedial actions.
The fine is one of the highest ever issued under EU GDPR rules, second only to a fine of £636m issued to Amazon in July by Luxembourg’s data protection watchdog.
Read more: What does the WhatsApp saga tell us about privacy in 2021?