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WhatsApp sanctioned for violating European data protection regulations

Meta’s instant messaging application was fined 5.5 million euros for violating the GDPR. This sanction comes a few days after a sanction of 390 million euros.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, received on Thursday, January 19, a new fine of 5.5 million euros from the Irish regulator for violating the European Data Regulation (GDPR) by its WhatsApp messaging service, after a sanction of 390 million euros at the beginning of this year. January.

In this new decision, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), acting on behalf of the EU, found in particular that the digital giant acted “in breach of its transparency obligations,” the regulator said in a press release. .

A hit to Meta’s ad revenue

In addition, Meta relied on an erroneous legal basis “for its processing of personal data in order to improve service and security,” continues the DPC, which gives the US group six months to “put its data processing operations agree with “. This sanction is based on grounds similar to the one adopted at the beginning of the month, which targeted the subsidiaries of Meta, the social networks Facebook and Instagram.

But the decision earlier this month also accused these Meta subsidiaries of failures related to the processing of personal data for the purposes of targeted advertising, a decision that is likely to inflict a severe blow to the group’s advertising revenue.

Meta, however, immediately announced its intention to appeal, and was quick to add that the penalty did not prevent targeted or personalized advertising.

A lack of transparency already sanctioned in 2021

The fine is much lower this time, in particular because it is not related to targeted advertising issues, but also because “the DPC had already imposed a very large fine of 225 million euros on WhatsApp” for events related “with the same period” . “, she argues.

In fact, the regulator had imposed a heavy sanction on WhatsApp in September 2021 for having breached its transparency obligations, particularly in data transfers to other group companies.

The Irish police had also sentenced the Californian giant in September to a fine of 405 million euros for failures in the treatment of minors’ data, and in November to 265 million euros for not having sufficiently protected the data of its users.

This new series of fines imposed in January follows the adoption in early December of three binding decisions by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), the European regulator for the sector.

Author: PM with AFP
Source: BFM TV

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