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WhatsApp is facing a hefty fine after the Irish Data Protection Commission determined it violated the European Union’s (EU) data privacy laws. The DPC said on Thursday, Sept. 2, that the Facebook-owned instant messaging mobile application failed to inform users in the EU about what it does with their personal data, thus it was fined €225 million or $267 million.
According to CNBC, the data privacy watchdog in Ireland said WhatsApp did not inform the Europeans how it will be using their personal data that have been collected from using the app. It was added that people were not told about how WhatsApp is sharing data it collected with Facebook and other companies it owns.
Now, because of this, the Irish officials ordered the company to modify its privacy policies in order to comply with EU’s privacy regulations. WhatsApp was also told to indicate how it communicates with users and make it clear so every user will understand how their data is being used.
WhatsApp already received the notification about the $267 million fine that it needs to pay to the EU for the privacy data breach, and its spokesman said that they are planning to appeal the decision.
“WhatsApp is committed to providing a secure and private service,” the spokesperson said. “We have worked to ensure the information we provide is transparent and comprehensive and will continue to do so and we disagree with the decision today regarding the transparency we provided to people in 2018 and the penalties are entirely disproportionate.”
So far, this is said to be the biggest fine imposed by Ireland’s data privacy watchdog for breach of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation or the GDPR. At any rate, Reuters reported that Ireland's DPC is handling the data privacy case against Facebook as its regional headquarters is located in Dublin.
Meanwhile, in addition to the fine, the Irish regulator also imposed a reprimand and ordered WhatsApp to take action and work for compliance to EU’s rules. As of late last year, Ireland’s DPC is said to have had 14 major inquiries into Facebook and its other leading subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp.
